Gaming through mobile or other devices

ABSTRACT

Various embodiments that may generally relate to mobile gaming, location determination, mobile devices, authentication, and so on are described. Various methods are described. Various apparatus are described. Further embodiments are described.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/780,157 filed Feb. 28, 2013 which claims priority to U.S. provisionalapplication 61/604,115, filed Feb. 28, 2012; U.S. provisionalapplication 61/680,168, filed Aug. 6, 2012; and U.S. provisionalapplication 61/736,087 filed Dec. 12, 2012, all of which are herebyincorporated herein by reference.

FIELD

Some embodiments may generally relate to gaming and/or mobile devices.

BACKGROUND

Mobile devices, such as cellular telephones, PDAs, notebook computers,and/or various other devices may be used by individuals. Gaming, such ascasino gaming, sports wagering, video gaming, and/or various other formsof gaming may be performed.

SUMMARY

The following should be understood as example embodiments, and not asclaims.

A. A method comprising: determining, by a computing device, that a firstcellular telephone is accessing a gaming service through a first networkthat is known to the gaming service as being in an approved location; inresponse to determining that the first cellular telephone is accessingthe gaming service through the first network, allowing, by the computingdevice, the first cellular telephone to access gaming services of thegaming service;

determining, by the computing device, that a second cellular telephoneis accessing a gaming service through a second network that is not knownto the gaming service as being in the approved location; in response todetermining that the second cellular telephone is accessing the gamingservice through the second network, determining, by the computingdevice, that a first confidence level that the second cellular telephoneis in the approved location based on a first internet protocol addressof the second cellular telephone is above a threshold confidence; inresponse to determining that the first confidence level is above thethreshold confidence, allowing, by the computing device, the secondcellular telephone to access gaming services of the gaming service;determining, by the computing device, that a third cellular telephone isaccessing a gaming service through the second network that is not knownto the gaming service as being in the approved location; in response todetermining that the third cellular telephone is accessing the gamingservice through the second network, determining, by the computingdevice, that a second confidence level that the third cellular telephoneis in the approved location based on a second internet protocol addressof the third cellular telephone is below the threshold confidence; inresponse to determining that the second confidence level is below thethreshold confidence, querying, by the computing device, a secondarylocation determination service for a location of the third cellulartelephone; receiving, by the computing device, an indication of thelocation of the third cellular telephone from a secondary locationdetermination service; and allowing, by the computing device, the thirdcellular telephone to access gaming services of the gaming service basedon the location of the third cellular telephone being gin the approvedlocation.

B. A method comprising: determining, by a computing device, which of aplurality of geofences a device is located in, wherein a first of theplurality of geofences includes therein at least a second geofence, andwherein one or more gaming activities are available to a user of thedevice when the device is located in any of the plurality of geofences;based on which of the plurality of geofences the device is located in,determining, by the computing device, a time at which a location of thedevice is to be re-determined, wherein when the device is located withinthe first geofence but not the second geofence, the time is a firstvalue and wherein when the device is located within the first and secondgeofences, the time is a second value; and at the determined time,determining, by the computing device, a location of the device.

B.1 The method of claim B, wherein the second time is greater than thefirst time. B.2. The method of claim B, wherein the second time is lessthan the first time. B.3. The method of claim B, wherein the second timeequals the first time. B.4. The method of claim B, wherein the secondgeofence includes therein at least a third geofence.

C. A method comprising: registering, by a computing device, anapplication on a device, wherein one or more gaming activities areavailable to a user of the device, and wherein the application is atleast configured to determine a location of the device, that the devicehas changed location, and/or a distance the device has moved; receiving,by the computing device, from the application a report wherein thereport includes at least one of a location of the device, an indicationthat the device has moved, and an indication of a distance the devicehas moved; and in response to the report, determining, by the computingdevice, through geofencing a location of the device.

C.1. The method of claim C, further comprising: determining which of aplurality of geofences the device is located in, wherein a first of theplurality of geofences includes therein at least a second geofence, andwherein one or more of the gaming activities are available to the userwhen the device is located in any of the plurality of geofences; andbased on which of the plurality of geofences the device is located in,configuring the application to report location changes, wherein when thedevice is located within the first geofence but not the second geofence,the application is configured to report shorter distance movements ofthe device as compared to when the device is located within the firstand second geofences.

D. A method comprising: responsive to a user using a device to access agaming service to engage in at least one gaming activity, determining bya computing device whether the user's device is located within apre-defined location, wherein the pre-defined location is defined by anon-circular geofence, and wherein determining whether the user's deviceis located within the pre-defined location includes making thedetermination through the use of geofencing; and allowing by thecomputing device the user to engage in the at least one gaming activityfrom the user's device based upon the determination that the user'sdevice is located in the pre-defined location.

D.1. The method of claim D, wherein the non-circular geofence is apolygonal geofence.

E. A method comprising: determining, by a computing device, which of aplurality of geofences a device is located in, wherein a first of theplurality of geofences includes therein at least a second geofence, andwherein one or more gaming activities are available to a user of thedevice when the device is located in any of the plurality of geofences;based on which of the plurality of geofences the device is located in,determining, by the computing device, a time at which a location of thedevice is to be re-determined, wherein when the device is located withinthe first geofence but not the second geofence, the time is a firstvalue and wherein when the device is located within the first and secondgeofences, the time is a second value; and at the determined time,determining, by the computing device, a location of the device.

E.1. The method of claim E, wherein the second time is greater than thefirst time. E.2. The method of claim E, wherein the second time is lessthan the first time. E.3. The method of claim E, wherein the second timeequals the first time. E.4. The method of claim E, wherein the secondgeofence includes therein at least a third geofence.

F. A method comprising: registering, by a computing device, anapplication on a device, wherein one or more gaming activities areavailable to a user of the device, and wherein the application is atleast configured to determine a location of the device, that the devicehas changed location, and/or a distance the device has moved; receiving,by the computing device, from the application a report wherein thereport includes at least one of a location of the device, an indicationthat the device has moved, and an indication of a distance the devicehas moved; and response to the report, determining, by the computingdevice, through geofencing a location of the device.

F.1. The method of claim F, further comprising: determining which of aplurality of geofences the device is located in, wherein a first of theplurality of geofences includes therein at least a second geofence, andwherein one or more of the gaming activities are available to the userwhen the device is located in any of the plurality of geofences; andbased on which of the plurality of geofences the device is located in,configuring the application to report location changes, wherein when thedevice is located within the first geofence but not the second geofence,the application is configured to report shorter distance movements ofthe device as compared to when the device is located within the firstand second geofences.

G. A method comprising: responsive to a user using a device to access agaming service to engage in at least one gaming activity, determining bya computing device whether the user's device is located within apre-defined location, wherein the pre-defined location is defined by anon-circular geofence, and wherein determining whether the user's deviceis located within the pre-defined location includes making thedetermination through the use of geofencing; and allowing by thecomputing device the user to engage in the at least one gaming activityfrom the user's device based upon the determination that the user'sdevice is located in the pre-defined location.

G.1. The method of claim G, wherein the non-circular geofence is apolygonal geofence.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of a hand-reading system of someembodiments.

FIG. 2 shows apparatus for playing a game in some embodiments.

FIG. 3 shows an example process that may be used in some embodiments forvalidation and/or use of a mobile device.

FIG. 4 an example set of application that may be executed by a mobiledevice to facilitate access to a mobile gaming service.

FIG. 5 shows an example of a series of geofences shown on a map ofNevada.

FIG. 6 shows some example processes that may be performed in someembodiments with respect to a geofence.

FIG. 7 some example processes that may be performed in some embodimentswith respect to a geofence.

FIG. 8 shows an example architecture that may be used in someembodiments for location determination.

FIG. 9 shows an example method that may be performed in someembodiments.

FIG. 10 shows an example according to some embodiments.

FIG. 11 shows an example of a series of geofences shown on a map of astate.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION I. Example Embodiments

Colloquially, gaming may be referred to as wagering but it should beunderstood that embodiments are not limited to the statutory definitionof wagering that is limited to games of chance but rather may includegames of skill, fantasy games, games of chance, and/or any other type ofgames and therefore the term gaming is used when discussing someembodiments rather than the term wagering. Gaming may include a risk ofan amount of money that some event will happen. Such risk may be skilland/or risk based, booked and/or pari-mutuel, and/or take any formdesired. Gaming may include paying a fee to enter into a contest that isbased on the occurrence of an event. The winner of such a contest may beprovided with an award (e.g., money based on a sum of contest entryfees). Wagering may be used herein to refer to such skill or risk basedgaming in some instances and should not be understood to be limited toone or the other type of gaming unless specified otherwise. Gaming mayinclude wagering, betting, risking money, paying an entry fee to acontest, and/or any other form of gaming as desired. Various embodimentsmay apply to any type of gaming in any combination and/or arrangement.

Some example methods and systems that may relate to gaming are describedin U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 13/080,098 and 13/288,223. U.S.patent application Ser. No. 13/080,098 to Amaitis filed Apr. 5, 2011 ishereby incorporated herein by reference. U.S. patent application Ser.No. 13/288,223 to Amaitis filed Nov. 3, 2011 is hereby incorporatedherein by reference.

Some embodiments may facilitate gaming on one of more mobile devices.Some embodiments may allow such gaming when a mobile device and/orcustomer is in a jurisdiction and/or area in which gaming (e.g.,gambling, wagering, lottery, fantasy contests) is legal. Someembodiments may allow such gaming when a mobile device and/or customeris properly authorized and/or controlled. In some embodiments, variousprocedures and/or apparatus may be used to ensure security,authenticity, and/or locations of a customer and/or device. Gaming maybe facilitated, in some embodiments, over a cellular network, a wirelesscommunication network, and/or any desired communication network. In someembodiments, when in a location where such gaming is allowed, when adevice is properly authorized and/or controlled, a customer may operatea mobile device to play one or more games (e.g., place one or morewagers, enter information that defines play of one or more games) from agaming or other account over the communication network.

In some embodiments, gaming may include, for example, sports betting,casino betting, proposition betting, fantasy contest playing, sportslottery games, and/or other for of gaming. In some embodiments, gamingmay include gaming from a gaming account, a credit card, using cash, oncredit, and so on. In some embodiments, jurisdictions and/or areas inwhich gaming may be allowed may include, for example, casino floors, thestate of Nevada, outside of hotel rooms, outside of residences, the cityof Atlantic City, inside hotel rooms, and so on. It should be recognizedthat while some embodiments are described in terms of sports gaming,cellular networks, and/or particular areas, that these embodiments aregiven as examples only and that other embodiments may include anydesired types of gaming, any desired types of communication networks,any desired area(s) and/or no such elements.

Some embodiments may include technology configured to facilitate acustomer playing a game over a communication network using a mobiledevice if the customer is in a location where playing the game is legaland/or otherwise allowed (e.g., the state of Nevada). Some embodimentsmay include technology configured to prevent a customer from playing agame over a communication network using a mobile device if the customeris not in a location where playing the game is legal and/or otherwiseallowed (e.g., may be prevented from placing a bet, may be preventedfrom logging into an account, may be logged out of an account whenoutside of a legal gaming area, and so on). In some embodiments, gamingrelated services may be provided and/or prevented outside of legalgaming areas as desired and/or as allowed in respective areas. Suchgaming related services may include providing odds, score updates,account information, and so on. In some embodiments, a location of amobile device may be used as a proxy for a location of a customer.References to a location may be understood as a location of a mobiledevice (e.g., a determined location, an approximate location).

IP Address-Based Location Examples

Some embodiments may include determining a location based on an IP(Internet Protocol) address. For example, a location of a user of amobile device may be determined based on the IP address of the location.Such a location may be an estimated location based on receivedinformation about IP addresses. Such received information may includeISP providers identifying IP address ranges that are assigned to aparticular location, user identification of a location from a particularIP address, and/or any information that may be useful in determining alocation based on an IP address. A location may include a location withany desired granularity and/or a granularity based on availableinformation. For example, a location may identify a city, a state, a zipcode and/or so on. In some embodiments, a highest level of granularitythat is available may be used (e.g., if state and city are bothavailable, city may be used). It should be recognized that variousembodiments may not be limited to a specific granularity and/or methodlocation determination or identification. Rather than and/or in additionto a location where a device is, a location may include a location wheresomething is not (e.g., a device may be anywhere except some places suchas not in California and this may be useful if gaming is allowed in mostlocations but not a few locations).

Some embodiments may include and/or interact with a system that provideslocation information based on IP addresses. One example system that mayperform such functionality includes IP Intelligence offered by Neustar,which is located at 401 Castro Street, Mountain View, Calif. Someembodiments may include interacting with such a system (e.g., requestinglocation information, transmitting IP addresses to, receiving locationinformation from, and so on). For example, in response to receiving arequest to access gaming services from a device, such a service may bequeried with an indication of the IP address of the device requestingaccess to the gaming services. A location may be determined in responseto the query (e.g., by accessing stored information about IP addressessuch as ranges of IP addresses that ISPs assign to each location andcomparing the IP address to such ranges) and transmitted from theservice to a gaming service. A location may be received from such aservice in response to such querying. Some embodiments may include alocal copy of an IP-location database. The local copy may be stored by agaming service provider and queried to make a location determination.The local copy may be updated with a master third party copyperiodically (e.g., every week, every month, etc.) and/or as desired.When various embodiments are discussed and reference a third party IPlocation or other third party service, it should be recognized that alocal copy of information or local service may be used instead of or inaddition to a third party service and that a third party service ismerely given as a non-limiting example.

Some embodiments may include purchasing and/or storing IP addressinformation and determining location information based on suchinformation. For example, instead of and/or in addition to using a thirdparty service, some embodiments may include storing information about IPaddresses and using such information instead of and/or in addition toquerying a third party. For example, some embodiments may store specificIP addresses that have known locations (e.g., IP addresses associatedwith a particular property such as a specific casino, a partner, and soon). A location may be determined by comparing a received IP addresswith such stored information.

In some embodiments, a determination or and/or receipt of informationabout a location based on an IP address may include a confidence of sucha location. For example, a IP based location determination service mayidentify that based on known information about locations of IPaddresses, a particular IP address is 90%, 100%, 10%, 50%, 0% or anychance likely to be in a location. Any method of determining confidencemay be used. For example, if an ISP provides information identifyingwhere they assign a particular range of IP addresses, and the IP addresswhose location is being determined corresponds to the range, a 100%confidence may be assigned to that location. As another example, ifother information, such as user, merchant, or other reported informationis used to determine the location rather than ISP specified information,a lower confidence may be assigned (e.g., 50%). As another example, ifobservation (e.g., an indication that the IP addresses has been observedin a particular location) is used to determine a location, a lowerconfidence may be assigned (e.g., 50%).

In some embodiments, a determination and/or receipt of information abouta location based on an IP address may include an identification of atype of network assigning the IP address. For example, mobile networksmay be known to assign IP addresses in a certain range, so an addressmay be identified as a known mobile address. Other networks maysimilarly be known to assign addresses in a particular range, so anaddress may be identified as being from a network with whatevercharacteristic is known. It may be important to know if the network towhich a particular client device is connected is a mobile network (e.g.,cell phone network) or non-mobile network (e.g., Ethernet, Wi-Fi, etc.).A mobile network may be treated differently than a non-mobile network(e.g., IP address location verification may not be used for mobilenetwork connections but may be used for non-mobile networks). In someembodiments, a type of network may influence a confidence level of an IPlocation.

Multi Level Location Determination

In some embodiments, a gaming service may limit access to gamingservices to devices that are in particular locations. Such locations mayinclude jurisdictions where gaming is legal. Such locations may includeproperties where gaming is legal. Different types of services may bemade available based on a location where a device is located (e.g.,which jurisdiction, which state, which casino, on a casino floor vs.outside, in a school, etc.).

Some embodiments may include a multi-level location determination tofacilitate determining which if any gaming services to allow for adevice accessing a gaming service. For example, in some embodiments,different methods of location determination may be used in differentsituations. Such different situations may include different statuses ofan IP address of a device accessing a gaming service. For example, if anIP address is known by a gaming provider, a location of a device may beaccepted as known; if an IP address is not known but has a highconfidence of being in a location based on a third party determination,the third party determination may be accepted; if an IP address is notknown and has a low confidence of being in a location based on a thirdparty determination, a secondary location determination method may beused (e.g., geofencing, GPS, etc.). It should be recognized that variousembodiments may include any methodologies in any combination fordetermining locations and that references to a third party arenon-limiting and may not use such a third party at all (e.g., may use alocal cache of an IP location system, a local geofencing system, etc.).Such multi-level determination may be performed by a component of agaming provider (e.g., a server, a router, a computer system, etc. of acasino and/or third party gaming service provider) that may interactwith one or more series and/or devices as desired to facilitate suchlocation determination.

Trusted IP-Based Location or Known Network Location

Some embodiments may include providing gaming services to mobile device(e.g., cell phone, laptop) users that communicate with a gaming servicethrough one or more known or trusted communication networks (e.g., wifinetworks at a casino). For example, a gaming service provider mayestablish a relationship with one or more venues (e.g., casinos). Agaming service provider may provide or otherwise become associated witha communication network at the one or more venues (e.g., by establishinga wifi network that users at the venue may access and/orrecording/accessing information about a wifi network established by thevenue).

In some embodiments, devices may access a gaming service through thecommunication network. The gaming services may be off of the network andmay be accessed through some router or other network interface thatconnects the network to the gaming service (e.g., through a publicnetwork such as the Internet). The network interface may have a known IPaddress by a gaming service provider (e.g., a static IP address that isprovided by and/or registered with the gaming service provider to be atrusted source). Such an IP address may be visible to off networkservice accessed by devices on the network (e.g., by a component of thegaming provider from packets received from devices accessing thenetwork). A gaming service provider may compare a list of trusted IPaddresses to the IP address in packets (e.g., TCP/IP packets) receivedby the gaming service that identify a source of the transmission (i.e.,the network interface of the network) to determine that the device isaccessing the gaming service from a location covered by the network(e.g., through a router that connects the wifi network to the Internet).

In some embodiments, a gaming service may be on a network and/or deviceson the network may be assigned IP addresses that are visible off of thenetwork. Such assigned IP addresses may be of a known range availablefor the network to assign to devices on the network (e.g. assigned froman ISP or other IP address authority). Such a range of addresses may berecorded with a gaming service provider (e.g., stored in a known IPaddress database). Based on a gaming service being accessed from adevice with an IP address in the trusted range, a component of thegaming service provider may determine that the location of the device isin a location covered by the network (e.g., by referencing a list ofstored known IP address locations).

Various methods of assigning IP addresses and determining IP addressesare known in the art. For example, DHCP is a known protocol forassigning IP addresses to devices on a network. Static and Dynamic IPaddresses are known in the art. For example, a network interface of aknown network may be assigned a static IP address. A network interfacemay dynamically assign IP addresses to devices on a network in anassigned range. TCP/IP packets are a known format that may be used andmay include an indication of a source IP address.

A gaming service may determine whether a device attempting to access agaming service is assigned or otherwise associated with a trusted IPaddress associated with a known location and/or trusted network. If sucha device is associated with such a known IP address, the gaming servicemay allow gaming to take place. Such allowance may include allowancewithout other location verification for as long as such access isoccurring in association with the known IP address. Such locationdetermination based on known IP addresses may be considered a firstlevel of a multi-level location determination. In some embodiments, agaming service may be accessed from a known network through a publicnetwork.

In some embodiments, a gaming service may be accessed through a trustednetwork directly, rather than from the network through a public network.For example, a gaming service may be coupled to the known networkdirectly so that it may be accessed without access through a publicnetwork (e.g., the Internet). In some embodiments, the gaming servicemay also be accessed through the public network (e.g., from otherunknown networks and/or locations). Some embodiments may includedetermining that the gaming service is being accessed through the knownnetwork rather than a public network (e.g., based on an IP address of adevice being of a device in a range known to be on the network, based onan interface that is receiving a request to game being attached to thenetwork rather than a public network). If a gaming service is beingaccessed through a known network by a device associated with thenetwork, the gaming service may allow gaming to take palace. Suchallowance may include allowance without other location verification foras long as such access is occurring from the known network. Suchlocation determination based on access from a known network may beconsidered a first level of a multi-level location determination.

High Confidence IP-Based Location

As discussed herein, some embodiments may include determining a locationof a device accessing a gaming service from a public network andassociated with an IP address that is not familiar to and/or trusted bythe gaming service based on an IP address of the device that may beavailable, for example, from a data packet received by the gamingservice. For example, if an IP address of a device attempting to accessa gaming service is not in a trusted range or from a trusted source(e.g., if the device is not accessing the gaming service from a wifinetwork that has been registered as a trusted network), a determinationof a location of the device may be attempted and/or made based on the IPaddress of the device.

For example, a third party service that associates IP addresses withlocations may be queried for a location with the IP address of thedevice. A location where gaming services are allowed may be receivedfrom such a service with a confidence level of the device being in thelocation. Some embodiments may include performing such a determinationby the gaming service in addition to and/or as an alternative to somethird party. Accordingly, some embodiments may first determine if anetwork through which a device is accessing a gaming service is trustedand if not may determine an IP-based location of the device beforeallowing the device to access gaming services.

A gaming service may perform different actions depending on theconfidence of such a determination. For example, if such confidence isconsidered high that a device is in an approved location, then access tothe gaming service may be allowed. Such allowance may include allowancewithout other location verification for as long as such access isoccurring in association with the IP address. Such locationdetermination based on an unknown IP address through a public networkhaving a high confidence may be considered a second level of amulti-level location determination.

A threshold confidence that may allow for the second level to be usedmay include any desired level. An example level may include 90%, 75%,100%, 50% and so on. Such a threshold may be set based on jurisdictionalrequirements, gaming service provider preference, user preference,casino preference, and so on. While discrete percentages are given asexamples, other embodiments may include qualitative labels (e.g., athird party may return a label of high or low confidence rather than apercent confidence).

It should be recognized that although various examples of IP basedand/or other location determination methodology are described in termsof wireless networks, wifi, and/or mobile devices, that any type ofdevices and/or networks may be used (e.g., laptops, wired networks,etc.). For example, an IP location determination may be used todetermine a location of a desktop computer accessing a gaming service.Wired connections may be more likely to and/or may always result in ahigh confidence because it may be easier to track and/or reportlocations for wired connections.

In some embodiments, a device with an IP address known to be a mobilenetwork IP address may be treated as low confidence regardless of athird party's or other IP location assessment of the confidence of alocation of the device. Some embodiments may consider a mobile networkIP address to be a low confidence address because it is assigned througha mobile network provider (e.g., a cell company). Because devicesattached to mobile networks are more able to move than devices attachedto wired networks, some embodiments may treat that ability to move as anindications of low confidence in the location of the device. Someembodiments may not include pother confidence indicators but may baseconfidence on the network type. Other embodiments may not use networktype at all. Network type may be determined by an IP address, a thirdparty service (such as a third party location determination service), byself report from a device, and/or in any manner.

Low Confidence IP-Based Location

As discussed herein, some embodiments may include determining a locationof a device accessing a gaming service from a public network andassociated with an untrusted network based on an IP address of thedevice. For example, if an IP address of a device attempting to access agaming service is not part of a trusted network and the gaming service,a determination of a location of the device may be attempted and/or madebased on the IP address of the device.

For example, a third party service that associates IP addresses withlocations may be queried for a location with the IP address of thedevice. A location where gaming services are allowed may be receivedfrom such a service with a confidence level of the device being in thelocation. Some embodiments may include performing such a determinationby the gaming service in addition to and/or as an alternative to somethird party.

A gaming service may perform different actions depending on theconfidence of such a determination. For example, if such confidence isconsidered low, then access to the gaming service may be contingent on asecond location determination. Various examples of a secondary locationdetermination are given herein. For example, a geofencing service may beused, a gps query may be used, and/or any desired location determinationtechnique may be used as a secondary location determination method.

A threshold confidence that may allow for the second level to be usedmay include any desired level. An example level may include 90%, 75%,100%, 50% and so on. Such a threshold may be set based on jurisdictionalrequirements, gaming service provider preference, user preference,casino preference, and so on.

In some embodiments, if a secondary location determination (e.g.,querying a geofencing service) results in a location that matches theIP-based location or otherwise verifies that the device is in anapproved gaming location, then gaming may be allowed. In someembodiments, a secondary location may be trusted if that locationdisagrees with the IP based location so that gaming services may beallowed as long as the secondary location shows that the device is in alocation where gaming services are allowed. In some embodiments, if asecondary location service results in a location where gaming is notallowed, then gaming services may be prohibited regardless of what aprior IP based location determination may have shown. In someembodiments, if there is disagreement between the IP based location andthe secondary location, gaming services may be prohibited.

In some embodiments, a secondary method of location determination mayinclude a location that uses a telephone network to determine a locationof a cellular telephone or other device having a telephone number (e.g.,wireless broadband card) in at least some instances. Such a service mayaccept as input a telephone number and return a location (e.g., inresponse to a query from a gaming provider identifying the phonenumber). Some embodiments may include determining if the telephonenumber is available and if it is, using an appropriate location servicethat accepts the telephone number as input to determine a location ofthe device.

In some embodiments, a telephone number may be accessible by a gamingsoftware that is executed by a mobile device to access a gaming service.For example, a gaming application running on a cellular telephone thataccesses the gaming service to allow a user to play games may be able todetermine the phone number of the cellular telephone on which it isrunning (e.g., by querying an operating system through an API). AnAndroid-based phone, for example, may allow such functionality. One ormore actions may be performed when such functionality is available tofacilitate a secondary location determination method.

In some embodiments, a telephone number may not be accessible by agaming software that is executed by a mobile device to access a gamingservice. For example, a gaming application running on a cellulartelephone that accesses the gaming service to allow a user to play gamesmay not be able to determine the phone number of the cellular telephoneon which it is running (e.g., may not be able to query the operatingsystem through an API). An iOS based phone, for example, may not allowsuch functionality. Accordingly, one or more actions may be performedwhen such functionality is not available to facilitate a secondarylocation determination method.

For example, in some embodiments, a user may be asked to enter atelephone number and such entered telephone number may be used as atelephone number for the telephone. The telephone number may be enteredupon registration and/or during access of the gaming service. In someembodiments, the user may be trusted to enter a correct telephonenumber. In some embodiments, some verification method may be used (e.g.,call the phone randomly or sometimes or in response to a log in attempt,SMS to the phone with a code that must be entered, checking with arecorded set of information identifying the user's phone number, and soon). Any verification method may be used to so that the gaming serviceis confident that the entered telephone number is in fact the telephonenumber. Such an action may be taken in response to the gaming servicedetermining that the device does not provide direct access to atelephone number of the device through an API.

As another example, in some embodiments, a telephone number may bedetermined based on information entered by the user at a sign upprocess. For example, when signing up to use the service, the user maybe required to provide a phone number of the device. In some embodimentssome verification of the phone number may be used. In some embodiments,as described herein, a particular device may be associated with aservice before it is allowed to be used. During that process the devicemay be associated with a telephone number (e.g., the devices number maybe given to a gaming service to sign the device up for the service andstored in a number database). A service may determine the device basedon a MAC address and/or other authentication information (e.g., pin,password, security pattern, etc.) entered into the device. Suchinformation may be used to determine the telephone number that wasassociated with that device at a signup processes. The number that wasassociated during the sign up process may then be used to determine alocation.

Some embodiments may use a tertiary location verification method. Such amethod may be used if the confidence of a location is low, if thetelephone number is not available through an API, and/or in response toany possible doubt of a location. For example, a tertiary locationverification method may include asking a device where it is located. Forexample, a gaming application running on a telephone may access a GPSlocation of the telephone and report that location to the gaming serviceprovider as a tertiary location determination method. In someembodiments, if the location of the entered or otherwise determinedtelephone number and the phone-reported location match, the secondarylocation may be verified. In some embodiments, if the locations do notmatch, the secondary location may not be trusted. It may be assumed, forexample, that a telephone number has been faked or entered incorrectly.Such tertiary verification may be useful, for example, when an iOSdevice is used because the telephone number of the iOS device may notalways be verifiable so the tertiary GPS location may be used as averification method. If the locations do not match, access to a gamingservice may be denied.

In some embodiments, a client application may determine a least costlymethod of tertiary location determination and use that to verifylocation information if needed. For example, a device may support manydifferent location determination methodologies from cell towertriangulation to GPS and may use the one that costs the least amount ofsystem resources.

In some embodiments, a secondary method of location determination ratherthan a tertiary method of location determination may include a methodthat does not use a telephone number. For example, such a method mayinclude a asking a device to determine a location of itself (e.g.,through gps or other methods) and report that information. It should berecognized that any method of secondary location determination may beused that does or does not rely upon telephone numbers, self-reportedand/or phone-reported information, and so on.

In some embodiments, an IP address change in a client device may resultin a client losing connectivity to a gaming provider. In order to regainconnectivity, the client may be required to verify location through somemethod such as those described herein. In some embodiments, this loss ofconnectivity may occur because a change is detected by a gamingprovider. In some embodiments, such a change may occur because of a VPNconnection established between a client and gaming provider a gatewaythat is established in response to a logon being severed because theclient IP address changes. In embodiments that establish such a VPN, alldata may be routed through the VPN that comes and goes to the clientdevice while the client device is connected to perform gaming services(e.g., by adjusting routing table entries at the client device to routeall traffic through the VPN to a gateway of the gaming provider). Agateway may thereby block unwanted data such as proxy connections,remote desktop connections, connections that may be attempting tocircumvent security, play remotely, or perform other unwanted actions.In some embodiments, a VPN may only allow gaming related actions thatare addressed to and/or from the gaming provider to reach the clientwhile the client is engaged in gaming actions with the gaming provider.In some embodiments, to continue using a gaming service, a devicelocation may be required to be verified (e.g., using one or more levelsof a multi-level location verification protocol).

Non-Gaming Locations and Failed or Unsupported Checks

In some embodiments, if an IP location determination results in alocation where gaming is not allowed, then various actions may be takenas desired. Such actions may depend on a confidence level of thelocation.

For example, in some embodiments, in all instances, a backup locationdetermination method may be used (e.g., geofencing) and may be trustedover the IP-based location determination. Such a backup locationdetermination may therefore override an IP location based determinationin some embodiment in which it is used.

As another example, in some embodiments, if a confidence level that alocation is in a non-gaming area is above a threshold, then gaming maybe prohibited. Such prohibition may be made without consulting a backuplocation determination method. For example, such a threshold may includea 100%, 90%, 75%, 50%, etc., threshold.

As yet another example, in some embodiments, if a confidence level thata location is in a non-gaming area is below a threshold, then asecondary location determination method may be used. Such secondarylocation determination method may be trusted over the IP-based locationdetermination method.

In some embodiments, an error may occur in location determination and/ora location determination method may not be supported by a device (e.g.,a device may not include GPS). If a location determination policyrequires a location to be determined but such a situation occurs, thedevice may be considered to have failed a location determination, accessto a gaming service may be denied until a location is determined, somenumber of additional attempts at location determination may be made,some prior location may be assumed to be the location, some reportedlocation from a different level of location determination may be used,and/or any desired action may be taken. A gaming service may take one ormore such actions as desired.

Various examples of location determinations and reactions to suchlocation determinations have been given. It should be recognized thatsuch location determinations are given as examples only and that variousembodiments may include any desired methodology of locationdetermination, any desired levels, any desired threshold, andcombination of elements, no elements, more elements, and so on as may ormay not be described herein. It should be recognized that although someexamples may have been described in terms of allowing gaming services ornot allowing gaming services, similar and/or different examples mayapply to determine which gaming services and/or other services to beallowed and/or offered (e.g., how to brand an interface, which games toallow, which log ins to present, etc.) based on a location determination(e.g., a multi level location determination method may result in alocation determination that is used to determine to allow games andwhich games in which branding).

Various examples of location determination made when a user attempts toaccess a gaming service are given. It should be recognized that suchlocation determination may occur as desired and/or in response to anytrigger. For example, such location determination may be made when anapplication is running (e.g., started, periodically, randomly, based ondistance to border, based on location, based on speed of movement, basedon direction of movement, based on a change in a device IP addressand/or network through which the device is accessing the gamingservice), in response to a trigger (e.g., an attempted login, a wagerrequest, periodically, randomly, based on location). In someembodiments, a component of a gaming service, such as a gateway orserver, may detect an event or determine that a location determinationis desired and facilitate such a location determination in response tosuch a determination.

Signal Strength Examples

Some embodiments may include preforming an action based on a signalstrength of a known network. For example, in a multi-level locationdetermination method, if a signal strength of a known network decreasesbelow some threshold, some action may be taken (e.g., by a mobiledevice, by a gaming service, by a gaming service and device). A lowersignal strength may, for example, be indicative that a border of an areacovered by the known network is being reached.

In some embodiments, an application may report a signal strength to agaming operator (e.g., periodically, in response to a signal strengthchanging, in response to a signal strength reaching a threshold, etc.).In some embodiments, a location determination method (e.g., one reliedupon by a gaming operator) may change based on a signal strengthreported being lower than some threshold (e.g., 50% of maximum). Forexample, a secondary method of location determination may be used insuch instances until and/or unless the signal strength returns to ahigher level. Accordingly, around an edge of an area covered by a knownnetwork, a secondary location method (e.g., geofencing, GPS, soft tag,etc.) may be used to verify that the device is still in the area that issupposed to be covered by the network and/or to allow for a smoothtransition when an IP address changes. In some embodiments, a rate ofuse of a secondary location determination method may increase as asignal strength decreases so that as a user gets closer to an edge of aknown network, the rate of polling increases.

Some embodiments may include using a secondary location determinationmethod in some or all levels of a multi level location determinationmethodology. Such a secondary method may act as a verifier of anothermethod. A frequency of use of such a verifier may depend on which levelof determination is being used (e.g., more frequent for less confidentlevels), a level of confidence, a signal strength, a distance to ajurisdictional border, and so on.

In some embodiments, around a border of a jurisdiction, such as a state,and/or when crossing a border of a jurisdiction, such as a state, mobiledevices, such as cell phones may be assigned new IP addresses. Forexample, in some embodiments, a 3G network may operate across statelines and a 4G network may be state specific. Accordingly, as a mobiledevice is brought across state lines the device may disconnect from one4G network, connect to the 3G network, and then connect to the other 4Gnetwork. In other examples, a 3G network may differ per state, and/orthere may be no 3G network that crosses state lines. Accordingly, agaming service provider may rely upon an IP address to determinelocations for a cellular telephone in some instances without referenceto secondary location determination methods if such a cell phone isusing a state specific mobile network that is known to the gamingoperator to be state specific. Accordingly, although some embodiments asdiscussed above may treat mobile networks more harshly, if such a mobilenetwork is a state specific mobile network that is known to the gamingoperator, such harsh treatment may not be triggered.

In other methods, such secondary location determination methods may beused to verify other location determination methodology as discussedelsewhere.

In some embodiments, a gaming application may monitor a GPS and force anIP address change when a determination is made that a mobile devicecrosses a state line. In some embodiments, a GPS may be reported to agaming operator and a gaming operator may require a new VPN tunnel to beformed if a GPS crosses a state line. In some embodiments, a GPS of aphone may be monitored by a gaming application and may be reported to agaming service provider as a device nears a jurisdictional or otherimportant boundary that may trigger some location determination actionsuch as a different level or source of location determination to beused. In some embodiment, a rate of GPS reporting may increase asdistance to a border decreases.

Further Alternative Location Determination Methods

It should be recognized that any methodology of alternative locationdetermination may be used in various embodiments and that the examplesof GPS, geofencing, soft tagging, IP location, and so on arenon-limiting examples only. For example, rather than IP location being atop level of a multi-level location determination method, GPS may besuch a top level. Any arrangement and combination of locationdetermination may be used as desired.

As an example, some embodiments may include a location determinationmethodology that operates based on available networks (e.g., wifinetworks that are detectable from a particular location). Suchembodiments may include detecting and/or storing wifi networks and/orstrengths at various locations (e.g., a plurality of users may transmitsuch information and GPS information for storage). Such information maybe used as a map of an area defined by strengths of wifi networks ateach spot in the area. At a later time, when a location is desired to bedetermined for a user, the available wifi network and/or strength ofthose networks may be compared to the stored information to determine alikely location. For example, an application may transmit a list ofavailable wifi networks and signal strengths of those networks to acentral server and/or third party that may determine the likely locationof the device based on a mapping of location to wifi networks and/orsignal strengths.

Example Methods and Apparatus

FIG. 9 illustrates an example method that may be performed in someembodiments. Such a method may be performed, for example, by a componentof a gaming service (e.g., a gateway, a service, etc.). Such a locationdetermination may include a location determination for a particularstage of use. For example, such location determination may refer to asign in stage of use. If the location determination succeeds and nofurther location determination is needed, some embodiments may stillmake further location determination checks in other use stages (e.g., inresponse to actions, after time has passed, etc.).

As illustrated, some embodiments may include determining whether acellular telephone (or other device such as a laptop, desktop, augmentedreality device, etc.) is communicating with a gaming service through atrusted or otherwise known network. A method may include allowing gamingservices if the cellular telephone is determined to be communicatingthrough the trusted or otherwise known network. Further location baseddeterminations for a particular method may not be needed if such a firstlevel of determination is successful in some embodiments. Furtherlocation determinations and/or backup determinations may be used in someembodiments even if such a primary level succeeds.

As illustrated, some embodiments may include determining whether the IPaddress of the cellular telephone has a confidence level greater than afirst threshold of being in an approved location. A method may includeallowing gaming services if the IP address is determined to have aconfidence level above the first threshold of being in the approvedlocation. Further location based determinations for a particular methodmay not be needed if such a second level of determination is successfulin some embodiments. Further location determinations and/or backupdeterminations may be used in some embodiments even if such a secondarylevel succeeds.

As illustrated, some embodiments may include determining whether asecondary, non-IP address based location determination method identifiesthat the cellular telephone is in an approved location despite the IPaddress of the cellular telephone having a confidence level that is notgreater than the first threshold. A method may include allowing gamingservice if the non-IP address based location identifies that thecellular telephone is in the approved location.

As illustrated, some embodiments may include determining whether toallow gaming services by a gaming service provider based on adetermination of a location of the cellular telephone. For example, if alevel of location determination results in the cellular telephone beingin an approved location, gaming may be allowed. Otherwise, gaming may beprevented. Such a method and/or determination may be made periodically,in response to a trigger, and so on and desired.

It should be recognized that FIG. 9 is given as a non-limiting exampleonly. Various embodiments may include performing one or more methods tofacilitate any desired functionality. For example, methods may includeactions that allow users to perform actions as described with respect toany combination of embodiments described herein. Different ordering ofactions may be used in different methods. For example, in methods thatprefer IP location determination to network location determination,ordering of first and second blocks may be reversed.

FIG. 10 illustrates an example of some embodiments. As illustrated inFIG. 10, some embodiments may include a component of a gaming serviceprovider 1001 (e.g., a gaming server, an accounting server, etc.), ainterface component 1003 (e.g., a gateway of a gaming service provider,one or more network interfaces of a gaming service provider, etc.), anauthorized/trusted network 1005 (e.g., a network run by or registeredwith a gaming service provider in a known and/or controlled location, awifi network, a wired network, etc.), a communication service provider1007 (e.g., a cell phone provider, Sprint, etc.), one or more IP basedlocation determination services 1009 (e.g., a system that allows a IPaddress to be correlated to a location in some manner that may be athird party or party of a gaming service provider) one or moregeofencing or other location determination services 1011 (e.g., aservice that maintains geofences and allows querying related to them bya gaming service provider that may be part of or separate from a gamingservice provider), a set of devices 1013 a, b, c (e.g., cellulartelephones, mobile devices, stationary devices, laptops, desktops,kiosks, etc.), one or more areas 1015 a, b that may be covered by anauthorized network 1005 (e.g., an area in a casino, an area that a wifinetwork covers, a building in which jacks to access a wired network arelocated, etc.), and one or more geofences 1017 (e.g., geofences relatedto a geofence provider 1011). It should be recognized that the exampleof FIG. 10 is given as a non-limiting example only and that otherembodiments may include any combination of elements that may worktogether in any manner. For example, in some embodiments, a gamingoperator may provide IP based location determination locally, mayperform geofencing calculations locally from location data received froma user device and/or network provider, and so on.

In some embodiments, gaming service provider 1001 may include any numberof components arranged in any manner to provide gaming services (e.g.,gambling, lottery, fantasy competitions) to one or more users. Forexample, a gaming service provider may include one or more computingdevices (e.g., servers, blades, etc.) configured to perform one or moremethods. A gaming service provider may perform a method such as thatshown in FIG. 9 and/or provide any desired functionality such asfunctionality described herein in combination with any elements and/oralone.

In some embodiments, interface component 1003 may include any number ofcomponents arranged to allow a gaming service provider to interface withone or more networks and/or mobile devices. For example, such aninterface component may include a gateway, a network interface card, andso on arranged to connect to one or more networks. In some embodiments,a separate such interface component may be included for each network(e.g., a proprietary network may include one, and a public network mayinclude another one). An interface component may be part of a gamingservice provider 1001 and/or a separate element. An interface componentmay perform a method such as that shown in FIG. 9 and/or provide anydesired functionality such as functionality described herein incombination with any elements and/or alone.

In some embodiments, authorized network 1005 may include a wirelessand/or wired network. Such a network may include a network authorized bya gaming service provider, run by a gaming service provider, connectedto a particular network interface of a gaming service provider, and/orin any manner authorized to access a gaming service provider. Authorizednetwork 1005 may include one or more network access points, routers, andso on that may allow a connection to a public network and/or privatenetwork that may include resources such as a connection to gamingservice provider. For example, such a network may include a network orsub-net operated by a trusted internet service provider that assigns thenetwork or sub-net to a particular area. As another example, such anetwork may include a network operated by a trusted establishment in afixed location.

In some embodiments, communication service provider 1007 may include aservice that provides communication services to one or more devices. Forexample, such a service provider may include a cellular telephonecompany such as Sprint. Such a service provider may allow a device usingthe service to access a gaming service provider and/or a public networksuch as the Internet.

In some embodiments, IP based location determination service 1009 mayinclude one or more components that may facilitate locationdetermination based on an IP address. Such a service may be part of agaming service provider and/or a third party service provider. Such aservice may respond to requests with location information, confidence ofthe location based on an IP address, and/or a network type of a deviceusing the IP address. Such a service may include any number of computingdevices and/or other elements.

In some embodiments, other location determination service 1011 mayinclude one or more components that may facilitate locationdetermination based on any desired method (e.g., geofencing, softtagging, GPS querying, and so on). Such a service may be part of agaming service provider and/or a third party service provider. Such aservice may respond to requests with location information and/orconfidence of the location based an identification of a device such as atelephone number. Such a service may include any number of computingdevices and/or other elements.

In some embodiments, devices 1013 a, b, c may include any desired mobileand/or stationary devices in any combination. For example, devices mayinclude cellular telephones, laptops, and so on. Such devices may beconfigured to communicate through one or more networks and/or servicesproviders (e.g., 1007 and/or 1005). Such devices may be configured toexecute one or more applications that may facilitate gaming services,methods and/or functionality described herein.

In some embodiments, area 1015 may include an area of a casino, a floorof a building, a merchant, a building that has jacks for wiredconnections, and so on. An area covered may be configured to onlyinclude a specific region of a casino, only cover the interior of acasino, only cover casino grounds, and so on. For examples, accesspoints may be arranged and/or configured so that an entire first floorof a casino is covered, but other areas are not. It should be recognizedthat any area may be covered that is continuous and/or non continuous inany manner with any devices.

In some embodiments, geofence 1017 may include an area around which ageofence has been established. Various examples of geofences are givenherein.

In some embodiments, as illustrated in FIG. 10, devices 1013 a, b, c mayoperate in the state of Nevada. This is given as an illustrative exampleonly.

In some embodiments, device 1013 a may access a network 1005 while inarea 1015 covered by the network 1005. Gateway 1003 and/or gamingservice provider 1001 may determine that the device 1013 a should haveaccess to the gaming services based on the device accessing the gamingservices through the network.

In some embodiments, device 1013 b may access communication service1007. Device 1013 b may attempt to access gaming services through thecommunication service 1007. Gateway 1003 and/or gaming service provider1001 may determine that the device is not accessing through a knownnetwork 1005. Gateway 1003 and/or gaming service provider 1001 maydetermine with reference to IP based location determination service 1009that a confidence level that the IP address of device 1013 b being in anapproved location (e.g., the state of Nevada) is below some thresholdlevel. In response to such a determination, gateway 1003 and/or gamingservice provider 1001 may determine with reference to other locationdetermination service 1011 that the device 1013 b is in an approvedlocation. For example, determination may be made that the device is in ageofence monitored by a geofencing service. In response to such adetermination, gateway 1003 and/or gaming service provider 1001 maydetermine that the device 1013 b should have access to the gamingservices.

In some embodiments, device 1013 c may access communication service1007. Device 1013 c may attempt to access gaming services through thecommunication service 1007. Gateway 1003 and/or gaming service provider1001 may determine that the device is not accessing through a knownnetwork 1005.

In one example, Gateway 1003 and/or gaming service provider 1001 maydetermine with reference to IP based location determination service 1009that a confidence level that the IP address of device 1013 c being in anapproved location (e.g., the state of Nevada) is above some thresholdlevel. In response to such a determination, gateway 1003 and/or gamingservice provider 1001 may determine that the device 1013 c should haveaccess to the gaming services.

In another example, Gateway 1003 and/or gaming service provider 1001 maydetermine with reference to IP based location determination service 1009that a confidence level that the IP address of device 1013 c being in anapproved location (e.g., the state of Nevada) is below some thresholdlevel. In response to such a determination, gateway 1003 and/or gamingservice provider 1001 may determine with reference to other locationdetermination service 1011 that the device 1013 b is not in a geofence,does not have capabilities to use the other location service, and/or isotherwise in a location that cannot be verified. In response to such adetermination, gateway 1003 and/or gaming service provider 1001 maydetermine that the device 1013 b should not have access to the gamingservices. In other embodiments, a tertiary level of locationdetermination may be used (e.g., a GPS query), and based on suchdetermination, a device may be allowed or denied access. In someembodiments, as described elsewhere, some embodiments may additionallyand/or alternatively use a network type (e.g., mobile network may need abackup check) as an input to a location determination methodology.

In some embodiments, gaming services may include single player games,multiplayer games, tournaments, and so on. For example, in someembodiments users of devices 1013 a, and 1013 b may enter into atournament against one another. Collusion detection may be used based onlocation information is some such examples.

It should be recognized that FIG. 10 is given as a non-limiting exampleonly to illustrate some example functionality that may be included insome embodiments. Other embodiments may include different componentsthat may interact in any manner to provide any desired functionalitysuch as functionality described with respect to various embodimentsherein in any combination.

Sign Up Examples

Some embodiments may include a sign up and/or registration process. Sucha process, for example, may establish an account with a particularcasino, an account with a gaming service provider, a verification ofuser information, a registration of a device, and/or any otherinformation. Such a process may include a user providing information toa gaming provider and/or agent of a gaming provider (e.g., in person,through a computer interface, etc.). Such registration may be requiredbefore a user and/or device is allowed to access a gaming service and/oran account with a particular casino. Such a process may includeestablishing a link between a device and a player (e.g., an entry in adatabase that identifies that a particular player is associated with aparticular device). Such a process may include establishing a gamingaccount for a player (e.g., establishing an account into which a playermay place money and/or from which a player may play games). Such aprocess may allow a customer to sign up for a gaming service. After sucha process is performed, a player and/or a device may be authorized toplay games (e.g., over a communication network, using a signed updevice, when in an authorized location, with a particular gamingoperator that performs at least a part of the process, and so on).

Some embodiments may include a customer signing up for a mobile gamingservice with a gaming operator. Such a signup process may be performed,at least in part, at a casino (e.g., by a casino employee, at a kiosk,in person, etc.), through a website (e.g., accessed by the mobiledevice, accessed by another device), in person (e.g., at a kiosk, at acasino), remotely (e.g., through a website, at a kiosk in a store).

In some embodiments, as explained in U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/288,223 which has already been incorporated by reference, a gamingservice provider may provide services for multiple venues and separateaccounts may be established for gaming related to each venue. Similarly,separate accounts may be established for different activities that areallowed from each account (e.g., casino gaming account and sports gamingaccount). Accordingly, a single user may have multiple accounts througha single gaming service provider. In some embodiments, a sign up processmay include establishing one or more accounts with one or morerestrictions, affiliations, and or other characteristics for a user. Inother embodiments, a single account may function as an account acrossmultiple venues and/or gaming types.

In some embodiments, signing up for a mobile gaming service may includeopening a gaming account, and/or associating an account with an abilityto play games. For example, a new account may be established from whicha user may place money into and from which a user may access money toplay games. In some embodiments, such an account may include a bankaccount, a credit account, and/or any account that may be created orhave already existed that may be associated with a gaming service.

In some embodiments, a sign up process may include a user providinginformation to a gaming service provider (e.g., through an interface ofa computing device such as a kiosk or a mobile device, through an agentof the gaming service provider). For example, a user may approach anagent of a gaming service provider at a casino and provide a filled outform or fill out a digital form through a tablet device. The agent maysave such information or enter such information into a computing deviceof the gaming service provider. Information provided may include name,SSN or tax ID, address, age, phone number, gender, race, income, and/orany desired information. Some information may be required (e.g., age)and/or allow additional functionality (e.g., SSN or tax ID for taxreporting, gender for targeted advertising). Such information may bereceived by a component of a gaming service (e.g., from the computingsystem, tablet, etc. through which it may be entered).

As another example, in some embodiments, a kiosk or other computingdevice may allow a user to enter such information. As yet anotherexample, a mobile device itself may be used to enter such information.For example, a user may download and install an application onto amobile device and then run the application. The application may connectto the gaming service provider and a user may be prompted to enter theinformation.

In some embodiments, a verification of one or more pieces of informationmay be requested and/or required. For example, an agent may scan orphotocopy an identification (e.g., driver's license, passport) of a userto verify age, name and/or other required information. As anotherexample, a user may be required to take a picture of an identificationand transmit that information to the gaming service provider forverification. A gaming service provider may receive and/or store suchinformation. Such information may allow a gaming service provider toprevent underage or otherwise illegal or fraudulent use. In someembodiments, a signup process may not be completed until verification ofthe identification is completed. Verification may include a third partyinspection of a representation of an identification (e.g., by a humanoffsite, by a computing device, etc.). Such verification may bedetermined by a gaming operator and in response a signup may be allowedand/or completed.

In some embodiments, at least a part of a sign up process may berequired to be completed in person at a location of a gaming operatorand/or agent of a gaming operator. For example, in some embodiments, anentire sign up process may be required to be performed in person. Asanother example, a sign up of a person to verify eligibility to play agame (e.g., verify age) may be required to be performed in person. Insome embodiments, an application to use a mobile gaming service may berequired to be made in person and a customer may be required to providea valid proof of identification, proof of residence, social securitynumber, and/or any other desired proof of information to sign up for aservice. In some embodiments, a customer may be denied an application tosign up for a mobile gaming service if they are under 21 years of age,do not meet a residency requirement, do not provide proper proof ofidentification, do not meet a sobriety requirement, and/or do not meetany other desired requirement.

In some embodiments, a sign up process may include establishing anability for a user to access an account in the future. For example, auser name and password may be established. In some embodiments, a username and mac address or phone number of a particular device may be used.In some embodiments, mac address or phone number of a device andpassword may be used. In some embodiments, a database may be establishedthat includes entries for user information, device information, and/orany combination of user and/or device information that may be used todetermine future access to a gaming service.

In some embodiments, a sign up may include a creation of a login. Forexample, a user may choose and/or be assigned a username and/orpassword/pin. Such information may be specific to a user and/or to acasino or other gaming venue and user combination. For example, a singleuser may have a single username and password combination to access allaccounts that the user has with a gaming service provider. In such anexample, a user may use username and password1 to access both a Venetianand an M Resort account through a gaming service provider. As anotherexample, a single user may have separate usernames and/or passwords thatmay be used to access accounts with each casino and/or venue that theuser has been associated with through the gaming service provider. Forexample, username1 and password1 may be usable by a user to accessVenetian accounts through a gaming service provider and username2 andpassword2 may be usable by the user to access M Resort accounts throughthe gaming service provider.

When attempting to access a gaming service using a mobile device, theuser may be prompted for login information (e.g., by a gaming serviceprovider through a mobile device interface). Such prompt may include aselection of a casino, venue, and\or account. Such a prompt may be madebefore a user may enter login information (e.g., if login information iscasino specific), and/or after a user may enter login information (e.g.,if login information is not casino specific). Such account and\or logininformation entered and/or selected may be transmitted from a userdevice to a gaming service for verification before a user is able to usea gaming service with the device. Users may be requested to and/orrequired to enter such information during use of a device to verify thatthe user is the one still using the device. For example, a user may beperiodically prompted for login information, prompted in response to atrigger (e.g., an attempted game play, a time passing, money being lost,money being won, a threshold amount of money change in a time period, amovement of a device, a lack of movement of a device, a change from atypical style of play such as an abnormally large wager or differenttype of game being played than normal for the user, etc.).

In some embodiments, a sign up may include a registration of a device. Adevice may be registered with a gaming service provider to allow accessof gaming services by a user. The device may be registered for multipleusers and/or limited to a single user. Registration may includeidentifying the device with the user such as by recording a MAC address,phone number and/or other identifying information of the device that maybe used to determine that the device has been registered in the future.In some embodiments, a gaming service may limit access to gamingservices to registered devices thereby adding an additional layer ofidentification verification in the form of a possessed item to a gamingservice. For example, some embodiments may include recording a MACaddress of a cellphone and associating it with a user. When the userlogins in, a check may be made to determine that the user is accessingthe gaming service from a registered device by comparing stored MACaddress information with received MAC address information of the deviceattempting to access the gaming service. The user may be allowed toaccess the gaming service if such information matches, but may beprevented from accessing the gaming service if the information does notmatch.

In some embodiments, a registration of a device may include generating adevice specific authentication. Such an authentication may include apin, password, and/or other authentication mechanism. For example, insome embodiments, an agent, a user, a device, etc. May be provided withauthentication information from a gaming provider (e.g., shown through akiosk upon sign up). Such information may be required to be entered intothe device being registered to verify that the device is present andidentify to the gaming service provider which device is beingregistered. The gaming service provider may receive the enteredinformation from the device (e.g., through an application running on thedevice into which the information is entered). In response to receipt,the gaming service provider may associate the device with the user. Theuser may be prompted to generate a chosen authentication information(e.g., a pin, password, and/or other authentication method such as aswipe pattern) that may be device specific and\or user specific.Accordingly, when the device is authenticated to the service, theservice may prompt the user for the device and\or user specificauthentication information.

Authentication information may include a password, a pin, a pattern(e.g., a pattern swiped on a touch screen of a device, a sentence, andso on.

A gaming service may request authentication of a device. Such requestmay include a request when access to a gaming service is requested,periodically, in response to a trigger, and so on. The request forauthentication may include analyzing a device ID such as a MAC. Suchanalysis may occur periodically, continuously, and so on in an attemptto prevent unregistered devices from accessing a gaming service.Authentication may include requesting and/or analyzing other informationsuch as authentication information entered by a used (e.g., password,pin, swipe pattern, etc.).

Accordingly, in some embodiments, a user may have established a usernameand/or password/pin combination that authenticates a user. A user mayhave also established some other authentication such as a swipe patternthat authenticates a device. It should be recognized that these examplesare non-limiting and that any combination and/or arrangement ofauthentications may be used as desired. In some embodiments, a user maybe asked for authentication. Examples of such authentication requestsare given herein. Such requested authentication may include anyestablished authentication whether username and password/pin, swipepattern, or otherwise and examples are given as non-limiting only.

In some embodiments, a customer may be associated with a device for usewith a gaming service. For example, if a customer signs up with a deviceand the device is verified, the verified device, and the customer may belinked so that the customer may use the device with the gaming service.For example, a database entry identifying such a link may be made (e.g.,a user name of the customer and/or mac address/phone number of thedevice may be identified as linked). In some embodiments, the customermay be prevented from using other devices with the service (e.g., unlessthe customer signs those devices up and becomes associated therewith aswell). In some embodiments other customers may be prevented from usingthe device with the gaming service (e.g., unless the other customersbecome associated with the device). A gaming service may check adatabase of authorized users and/or devices to determine whether toallow a user to play games from a particular device.

In some embodiments, a player may be able to access an account and/orplay games through a gaming service using any device that has beenactivated. For example, a user may sign on to a gaming service using anestablished username and/or password using any device that has beenverified for use with a gaming service by the user and/or any otheruser. In some embodiments, separate databases of approved devices andapproved users may be kept and any combination may be allowed to use agaming service.

In some embodiments, a gaming service may allow a user to authorizeadditional devices for use with the gaming service. For example, if afirst device has been authorized to use a gaming service theauthorization of that device may provide evidence that the user is inpossession of that device. An authorization method assigned during thedevice authorization (e.g., a swipe pattern) may then act as proof ofpossession of a thing by a user. Accordingly, in some embodiments,rather than requiring another device to be authorized through a sameprocess as a first authorized device, a user may, in some embodiments,use a same authorization method form a first device to authorize asecond device. A gaming service may determine that a second device isnot authorized for use with a gaming service and may request a deviceauthorization from a user attempting to use the second device to accessthe gaming service. The user may enter a device authorization methodestablished for a first device. The gaming service may then authorizethe second device for use with the service based on the entry of theauthorization method from the first device onto the second device. Otherinformation about the second device may be required to fully registerthe second device (e.g., MAC address, telephone number, a check of aoperating system file, etc.). Such information may be transmitted to agaming service, requested from a user or API, and/or determined and/orverified in any manner.

Some embodiments may include determining one or more characteristics ofa mobile device during a sign up process. For example, a phone number ofa cell phone may be determined. Such a phone number may be verified byplacing a call to the cell phone at a time of registration, determiningthat a location of a cellphone with the cell phone number is at thelocation of registration (e.g., querying a location service such as ageofencing service, etc.). Such phone number may be used in the futureto determine location, contact a user, and so on. Other characteristicsmay include that software is properly installed on the phone that anoperating system is properly running on the phone, that a phone hasproper functionality to use a gaming service, a recording of a checksumof software on the phone, and so on.

Some embodiments may include verifying a mobile device for use with agaming service. Such verification may include, for example, determiningan authenticity of software, determining an operating system version,determining a communication network, and/or any other actions asdesired. Such verification may be performed in person by an agent of agaming operator, remotely by software (e.g., software on the mobiledevice, software on a kiosk such as a kiosk to which a mobile device maybe attached through a USB port and/or other wired and/or wirelesscommunication method).

In some embodiments, a customer may physically provide a mobile deviceto an agent of a gaming operator for verification. In some embodiments,software on the gaming device may be executed to perform verification.In some embodiments, a third party and/or second machine may performverification.

An entity performing verification may determine that a device is runningan approved operating system. One example of an operating system thatmay be approved may include Android OS 2.2. Such a determination may bemade by reading a memory location, comparing files, comparing anoperating system with a listing of approved operating systems, and soon.

An entity performing verification may determine that a device is runningon an approved communication network. One example communication networkthat may be approved may include a Sprint network. Such a determinationmay be performed by reading a memory location, contacting Sprint tocompare a device identifier, comparing a communication network with alisting of approved communication networks, and so on.

An entity performing the verification may determine that an operatingsystem running on the device is an approved operating system for thecommunication network that the device is running on. For example, such adetermination may include a determination that the device has not beenrooted. Such a determination may include comparing a running operatingsystem with a listing of approved operating systems for thecommunication network and device.

An entity performing verification may determine that a device is runningand/or storing any desired programs and/or is not running and/or storingany undesired programs. For example, the entity may determine that thedevice is running an approved antivirus program. As another example, theentity may determine that the device is not running any undesiredmalware, and/or remote access technologies. Various examples ofdetermining whether a device is remotely controlled are given elsewhereherein. Such a determination may include a search of a memory, acomparison of running and/or stored programs with a listing of approvedand/or unapproved programs, and so on.

Some embodiments may include installing and/or enabling one or moreservices on a mobile device. Such installation and/or enabling may beperformed in response to a verification of a device and/or a signing upof a user for a service. Such installing and/or enabling may beperformed by an agent of a gaming operator, by a kiosk, by a gamingoperator computing device, by a customer, by software running on themobile device, and so on.

In some embodiments, an Android wrapper application and/or an AIR mobilegaming client may be installed on a mobile device. It should berecognized that such example programs are given as non-limiting examplesonly and that other embodiments may include any desired programs and/orno programs at all. For example, in some embodiments, rather than anAndroid wrapper application, a Win32 wrapper application may beinstalled, an Apple application may be installed, and so on. In someembodiments, a customer may be provided with information on how toreinstall any desired software if a problem arises.

Some embodiments may include verifying proper authentication and/or signup. Such verification may be performed by any entity desired (e.g., acustomer, a program, an agent of a gaming operator, a kiosk). Suchverification may include comparing checksums and/or MD5 and/or SHA-2hashes of files, program names, and so on. Such verification may includea verification by signing into an account and/or gaming service usingthe mobile device and/or performing any desired actions with the mobiledevice.

In some embodiments, after such a process (e.g., in response tosuccessfully completing one or more actions of such a process), acustomer may be and/or a device may be approved for gaming. A customer,for example, may be able to access a gaming account and/or play gamesthrough a gaming service using an approved device (e.g., the deviceand/or any approved device).

In some embodiments, a sign up component of a gaming service providermay maintain registration and/or account information. For example, agaming service may maintain balance information for one or more accountsof a user with one or more casinos or other venues. A customer databasemay maintain such information so that users are properly associated withaccounts. Such database information may be formed during and/or inresponse to a sign up process. In some embodiments, a database entry maybe made for each user that associates the user with multiple accounts. Achange to user information when accessing one account and/or through onevenue may propagate through to other accounts through the database. Forexample, if a user enters a name change at one venue or account, thatname change may apply to all accounts because the database entry for theuser may be changed. In some embodiments, if a user attempts to form anew account at a new venue, the new account may be associated with theuser through the database. Some steps of a sign up process may beskipped (e.g., age verification) because such step may have alreadyoccurred in a prior sign up. Some embodiments may include updatedaccount information for one account based on a change in accountinformation for a second account (e.g., when a user signs up with adifferent address t a second account, the different address may bereflected in the first account through such a universal database).

Some embodiments may include a minimum initial balance and/or depositinto a wagering account to sign up for a gaming service. In someembodiments, for example, a customer may be required to provide aminimum of $100.00 in cash to be placed in a new account establishedwith the gaming operator in order to sing up for a mobile gamingservice. It should be recognized that $100.00 is given as a non-limitingexample and that other embodiments may include any minimum as desired(e.g., 1 cent, 10 dollars, 1 million dollars). It should be recognizedthat cash is given as a non-limiting example and that other embodimentsmay allow transactions to and/or from an account in a form of cash,personal checks, cashier's checks, wire transfers, money orders, debitcards, credit cards, electronic transfers of money at a casino cage,and/or any desired method. In some embodiments transfers to and/or froman account including initial and/or subsequent transfers may be made ata same location as a sign up process, through an agent of a gamingoperator, on a website, and so on as desired.

It should be recognized that such a process is given as a non-limitingexample only and that other embodiments may include different, same,more, fewer, none, and so on such processes. Such processes may includesame, different, alternative, fewer, more, differently ordered, and soon actions. Various examples of elements that may be verified and/orinstalled are given as non-limiting examples only. Any combinationand/or arrangement of actions may be used in a signup process as desired(e.g., to provide a desired level of security).

User Security Examples

Some embodiments may include security methods to ensure that a device isnot lost or stolen and then used to access a gaming service. Forexample, in some embodiments, it is recognized that a human generally ismoving when holding a mobile device (e.g., walking, slight hand tremble,hand movement when operating a device, and so on). Accordingly, anaccelerometer in a device may be used to determine whether the device isbeing held or has been left somewhere. A type of movement may beanalyzed to determine if the device is exhibiting human like movement(e.g., movement that is within a speed of natural human movement asopposed to a car movement, movement in a pocket, and or other movementsthat are not typical when held in a human hand).

For example, an application (and/or gaming operator) on a mobile devicemay query an accelerometer, gyroscope, gps, etc. of the device todetermine if the device is moving and/or moving a manner characteristicof it being held in a human hand (e.g., moving with a set of desiredparameters such as in a speed range, with a level of irregularity,etc.). In some embodiments, if the device is not moving or not moving issuch a human-like manner, the application may prevent access. In someembodiments if a determination is made that the device is not moving, atimer may be started, so that if the device does not begin moving forsome period of time, then the application may prevent access. In someembodiments, a combination of non-use and non-movement may be used todetermine if access should be prevented (e.g., to allow a user to placea device on a table but still use it). For example, if a time period inwhich non-use and non-movement occurs reaches a threshold, access may beprevented. Preventing access may include requiring a login before accessis allowed, preventing access forever from a device, preventing accessuntil an agent is contacted, and so on. An application running on adevice may track this movement information and use the information tocause a logout or recheck to be required. The device may report themovement information to a central server that may determine when alogout or recheck may be required.

In some embodiments, a movement of a device may trigger a locationrecheck. For example, a location listener process may be run in a mobiledevice. Such a process may determine whether a device has moved by athreshold amount or at all. For example, such a process may call a GPSAPI or other location API to have location information reported to theprocess. If a GPS or other appropriate location reporting source reportsthat a location has changed by a threshold amount or any amount, anapplication may trigger a location recheck (e.g., by notifying a gamingservice of the move). The threshold amount may vary by distance from anedge of a boundary or geofence (e.g., greater threshold if a device isfarther from a boarder of a state). Although a GPS itself may not be atrustworthy source of location information, it may be somewhat reliablein reporting general movement. So the movement may be used as a triggerfor performing another location check such as querying a locationproviding geofence or other service. A device may report movement to acentral service and based on that movement being received, the centralserver may perform some other location verification (e.g., if themovement is above some threshold amount that may or may not be based ona distance from a boarder of a jurisdiction, a confidence of a priorlocation check, a time since a prior location check, and/or any otherinformation desired.

Proxy and Virtual Machine Detection

In some embodiments, a gaming provider may desire to prevent a proxy orvirtual machine to be used. Such elements may be useable to circumventsecurity or location restrictions. Accordingly, steps may be taken toprevent the use of a proxy or virtual machine by a client using a gamingservice.

For example, a proxy may be used to make it appear that a client deviceis located in a specific location when in fact the client device islocated somewhere else. Data going to and from the client device isfirst routed through the proxy. If the proxy is in a location wheregaming is allowed by a gaming service provider, then the gaming serviceprovider may allow gaming even if the actual client is not located inthe allowable location. This may allow illegal gaming to occur. Toprevent such illegal gaming, a gaming provider may prevent the use of aproxy.

A client process, such as software used to access a gaming service, mayperform a latency check to determine if traffic is going through aproxy. The use of a proxy may introduce an increase in latency becausean extra hop through a communication network (e.g., the Internet) withgreater distance is introduced into a route between a client and agaming service. If a determination is made that the traffic is goingthrough a proxy, the client may be prevented from connecting to a gamingservice provider. A client application and/or gaming server maydetermine a latency involved between their communication (e.g., during asign in process). If that latency is too great, then the client deviceor gaming server may prevent gaming.

Various methods of making a determination of a latency being too greatto access a gaming service may be used. One example method may include agaming application on a gaming client transmitting a ping or traceroutepacket to a gaming service (or vice versa). A return of the packet maybe used as the latency and compared to some threshold latency. In someembodiments, the ping or traceroute packet may be transmitted with a ttl(time to live) level set to some amount (e.g., 1, 2, 3). This may bedone because a proxy may be expected to be an early or a first hop afterleaving a local network. If those early hops, which may be expected tohave a low latency (e.g., because they should be close to the client),instead have a high latency (e.g., because they are actually a proxythat is far from the client), then the client may assume that a proxy isbeing used and prevent access.

A high latency may include a latency that is based on some standardthreshold. For example, a latency for a hop may be limited to less than20 ms, less than 10 ms, less than 100 ms, and so on. In someembodiments, a latency limit may be limited based on knowledge ofstandard latencies for an area. A latency may vary based on time of day,network congestion, network outages, and so on in a particular area ortime. For example, latency of other user's may be used to determine astandard latency. Users that attempt to logon to the gaming service andhave a latency that is more than some amount (e.g., 100% more, 50% more,etc.) greater than the standard amount (e.g., latency of other usersaccessing the gaming service, latency of other users in a similarlocation that are accessing the gaming service, etc.) may be prevented.A gaming service may monitor such standard latency and use it as acomparison when users sign in to the service and/or transmit it to auser device so that the user device may use it as a comparison during asign in process.

A virtual machine may also be used to circumvent location or securityrestrictions. Any method of limiting and/or detecting the use of avirtual machine may be used as desired. If a gaming client and/or gamingservice determines that a user is operating client software on a virtualmachine, then the access to the gaming service may be prevented (e.g.,the client may not allow a connection to occur, may not open, etc.). Asan example of determining if client software is running in a virtualmachine rather than an actual machine, client software may query anoperating system for an architecture of a processor. If the operatingsystem returns a known virtual machine architecture and/or an unknownphysical machine architecture, then the client may determine that theclient is in a virtual machine. As another example of determining ifsoftware is running in a virtual machine, a client may check identitiesof running processes against a list of known virtual machine processes.If a match is found, then a determination that the client is running ina virtual machine may be made.

A check of a virtual machine and/or proxy may occur when client softwareattempts to open, when a user attempts to login to a gaming service,periodically during use of a gaming software, and so on. A result may bereported to a central server that may use the information to preventgaming and/or used locally to prevent gaming. In some embodiments, sucha check may be made by a gaming service rather than and/or in additionto a client software.

It should be recognized that various examples of determinationsregarding virtual machines and proxies are given as non-limitingexamples. It should be recognized that various examples of preventinggaming based on virtual machines and/or proxies are given asnon-limiting examples.

Authentication Examples

Some embodiments may include an authentication method. Such anauthentication method may be designed to provide a desired level ofconfidence that a mobile device is not being accessed remotely, a mobiledevice has not been hacked, and/or a mobile device is at a locationwhere gaming is allowed. Such a method may be used to provide a level ofconfidence that a user is actually present at a mobile device, that theuser is actually using the mobile device, and/or that the user islocated at the location.

Although many different methods may be used, one example method mayinclude two example processes, for example: an initial sign up and/ordevice authorization (e.g., establish a link between a device and aplayer, and/or establish a wagering account), and an applicationsecurity handshake and/or continuous validation (e.g., occasionallyverify that software is unaltered and/or that a person associated withan account is still using a device). An example of such processes isgiven herein. Such processes may be independent, dependent, a sameprocess, different processes, arranged in any manner and/or performed byany desired apparatus and/or people.

Security Handshake and/or Continuous Validation Examples

In some embodiments, an application security handshake may include amultisystem secure authentication protocol that may facilitatecompliance with one or more regulatory requirements. For example, one ormore actions and/or devices may provide reasonable assurances that amobile device accessing a gaming service is at an approved gaminglocation at a time of a wager by utilizing a location service toretrieve the device's location (e.g., on a regular basis), validating alocation of a device in response to one or more requests to a gamingservice (e.g., every request). As another example, one or more actionsand/or devices may provide reasonable assurances that a mobile device isbeing used in person and not being remotely controlled by, for example,validating on a polled interval that some (e.g., all except one)external interfaces to the device are disabled before allowing access toa gaming service. As another example, one or more actions and/or devicesmay provide reasonable assurances that a gaming application executed bya mobile device includes an authentic application by using a multistagehashing protocol to send application and OS signatures to the deviceauthenticator service before allowing gaming. As another example, one ormore actions and/or devices may provide reasonable assurances thatapproved client versions are authorized to be used to play games bystoring approved application hashing values on an internal databasewhich is not accessible outside a firewall. As another example, one ormore actions and/or devices may provide reasonable assurances thatfollow best practices regarding failed login attempts, session timeouts,etc. by defining session timeouts for each system connection the deviceis. As yet another example, communications may be secure by using SSLHTTPS protocol for communications that go over the Internet, and/orusing application signature validation between processes on a device.

Some embodiments may include one or more actions that may be designed toprovide some level of confidence regarding location, security,authenticity and/or any desired characteristics at a beginning of agaming session, throughout a gaming session, and/or at points during agaming session. In some embodiments, such actions may include a securityhandshake and/or a continuous validation process. A continuousvalidation process may include a process that periodically validatessomething, that occasionally validates something, that continuouslyvalidates something, that validates something at least one time after ahandshake, that validates something upon an action, and so on. Anexample of a multi-level location determination methodology that may beused in some embodiments is given herein. Such a methodology may be usedin some instances when a location determination is desired. In someembodiments, a higher granularity of location may be desired and anymethodology for such a determination may be used as desired (e.g.,geofencing, GPS requests).

Initial Validity with Service Provider Examples

Some embodiments may include an initial security process. Such aninitial security process may be referred to as a handshake herein. Insome embodiments, a handshake may include a multisystem secureauthentication protocol. Such a process may provide reasonableassurances that the mobile device is in a location where gaming ispermitted at and/or near the time of gaming. Such a process may providereasonable assurances that the mobile device is being used in person andnot being remotely controlled at and/or near a time of gaming. Such aprocess may provide reasonable assurances that software running on amobile device includes an authentic application of a gaming operator.Such a process may provide reasonable assurances that that only approvedclient versions are authorized to be used to play games through a gamingservice. Such a process may provide reasonable assurances that someand/or all external interfaces (e.g., Bluetooth, non-gaming operatorprovided Wifi, USB/DOCK) on the devices may be disabled to preventremote connections. Such a process may use multilayer authentication.Such a process may include use of a soft tag and/or other locationdetermination to locate the device such as a multi-level locationdetermination methodology, GPS, geofencing, etc. Such a process and/orpart of such a process may be performed at a start of an application ona device, periodically by a device, upon installing of an application,in response to a game action (e.g., bet, entry into game) beingrequested and/or placed, occasionally, continually, when a connection toa gaming operator is established, before a game action, and/or wheneverdesired. For example, in some embodiments, an application may beprogrammed to perform at least a part of such a process when theapplication is started (e.g., selected to be executed on a mobiledevice). Examples of such processes given herein are non-limitingexamples. Other embodiments may include no such process, a process withmore, fewer, different, same, and/or differently ordered actions. One ormore actions of such a process may be performed by a wrapperapplication, a main application, and/or any other component.

Some embodiments may include determining whether a device is approvedfor use with a gaming service. In some embodiments, determining that adevice has been approved for use with a gaming service may includecomparing information about the device with a listing of devices thathave been approved (e.g., a database of approved phone numbers, macaddresses, etc.). In some embodiments, information identifying thedevice may be transmitted to a gaming service so that the gaming servicemay make such a comparison and/or determine in any desired way whetherthe device is approved. A gaming service may receive such identifyinginformation and in response to such receipt, determine if the device isapproved (e.g., if the device was previously registered, if the deviceinformation is in a database that identifies approved devices, etc.). Insome embodiments, in response to a start of a gaming application, thegaming application may transmit a request to a gaming operator to verifythat the device was previously approved for using the gaming service. Insome embodiments, a wrapper application (e.g., an android wrapperapplication, a win32 wrapper application, a wrapper application that amain application communicates with, and so on) may transmit the requestto a component of a gaming service (e.g., a device authenticatorservice). In some embodiments, the request may include a phone number,mac address and/or any other desired identifying information. In someembodiments, the component of the gaming service may receive therequest, and in response to receiving the request verify that the devicehas been previously approved for gaming. In some embodiments, thecomponent may transmit an indication of such verification to the mobiledevice. In some embodiments, a request from the mobile device may not betransmitted, but rather a communication from the mobile device may beinterpreted as a request (e.g., an initial communication of a gamingsession). In some embodiments, authentication information, such as adevice specific password, pin, pattern, etc. may also be requested forma user and compared to device specific authentication informationestablished during a sign up process to authenticate a device.

Some embodiments may include determining whether a device is/was locatedat a location where gaming is allowed. In some embodiments, determiningthat a device is/was located at a location where gaming is allowed mayinclude comparing information about where a device is/was located to alist of approved gaming locations. Some embodiments may includetransmitting a request from a mobile device to a gaming service toverify that a location is approved, may include performing a multi-levellocation determination method, may include using an IP address todetermine a location, may include determining a network interfacethrough which a gaming service is accessed to determine a location, mayuse GPS, may use a geofencing service, and/or any location determinationtechnology such as those described herein.

A component of a gaming service may facilitate a determination ofwhether the location is approved. For example, a DAS (deviceauthenticator service) may send a request to a mobile location serviceto track a device location. Examples of such device tracking and/orlocation determination are described elsewhere. Some embodiments mayinclude determining that a device is/was an approved location. Such adetermination may be sent back to the mobile device in some embodiments.Such a determination of a location may be made in response to receivingthe determination that the device is authenticated.

Some embodiments may include determining that a user is approved to usea gaming service. In some embodiments, determining that a user isapproved to use a gaming service may include requesting user informationfrom the user and/or requesting verification of such user information.For example, a user may be prompted for a user name and password. Suchuser name and password may be authenticated by a gaming service. Such adetermination may include determining that the user is approved to use aparticular mobile device and/or the gaming service at large. Such adetermination may be made in response to a user entering identificationinformation, a determination that a device is approved, a determinationthat a device is in an approved location, and/or in response to anydesired event.

Some embodiments may include determining that application softwareexecuted by a mobile device is approved for use with a gaming service.In some embodiments, determining that application software is approvedfor use with a gaming service may include verifying the applicationsoftware verifying a version of the software, and/or verifying that thesoftware is unmodified from an approved version.

One example method of determining that application software is approvedmay include a comparison of hashes and/or other characteristics ofapplication software. For example, in some embodiments a wrapperapplication and/or other software component may determine an applicationsignature hash (e.g., a hash of one or more application files and/orother files). In some embodiments, such a wrapper application and/orother software component may generate a random number. In someembodiments, such a wrapper application and/or other software componentmay determine a timestamp (e.g., the current time, a relatively recenttime). In some embodiments, such a wrapper application may determine ahash, which may be referred to as the App Hash herein, of the timestamp,the random number, and the application signature hash. Some embodimentsmay include transmitting (e.g., by the wrapper and/or other softwarecomponent) the timestamp, random number, and the App Hash to the gamingservice (e.g., to a device authenticator service) from the mobiledevice. In some embodiments, a component of the gaming service (e.g., adevice authenticator service) may validate that the timestamp is in apredetermined threshold of time (e.g., 5 minutes, 30 seconds, 1 hour)from another time (e.g., a current time, a time when information aboutthe App Hash is received, a recent server time, and so on). In someembodiments, the gaming service component may validate the App Hash.Such validation may include creating a comparison hash of the receivedtimestamp, the received random number, and an approved applicationsignature hash. Multiple comparison hashes may be created for multipleapproved applications. Such a validation may include comparing the AppHash with the comparison hash or hashes. If a comparison hash and theApp Hash are equal, then the App Hash may be determined to be valid. Ifthey are not equal, then the App Hash may be determined to be invalid.In some embodiments, a determination that the App Hash is valid may be adetermination that the application software is approved for use with thegaming service. A determination that the App Hash is invalid may includea determination that the application software is not approved for usewith the gaming service.

It should be recognized that such an example of hash comparison is givenas a non-limiting example only. Other embodiments may include anydesired method or no method of such validation. For example, checksumsmay be used, random numbers may not be used, time stamps may not beused, additional information may be used, and so on.

In some embodiments, in response to determining that the applicationsoftware is approved for use with the gaming service, an indication ofsuch approval may be transmitted to and/or received by the mobiledevice. In some embodiments, a gaming service component (e.g., deviceauthenticator service) may determine a client key (e.g., a unique clientkey, a random number). Such a client key may be used for one or morefuture transactions. Such a client key may uniquely identify the mobiledevice and/or that the mobile device has passed one or moreauthentication steps. Such a client key may be transmitted to the mobiledevice in response to a determination that the application software isapproved for use with the gaming service. Such a key may be stored in adatabase (e.g., a database that associated it with the mobile device).

Some embodiments may include determining that an operating system isapproved for use with a gaming service. In some embodiments, determiningthat an operating system is approved for use with a gaming service mayinclude verifying a version of an operating system, verifying that anoperating system is unmodified, and/or any desired actions.

One example method of determining that the operating system is approvedmay include a comparison of hashes. For example, in some embodiments awrapper application and/or other software component may determine a hashof one or more operating system files and/or components and the clientkey. The wrapper application and/or software component may transmit thehash, the previously determined timestamp, the previously determinedrandom number, the client key, and device identifying information (e.g.,a phone number, mac address) to a component of the gaming service (e.g.,a device authenticator service). In some embodiments, a component of thegaming service (e.g., a device authenticator service) may validate thatthe timestamp is in a predetermined threshold of time (e.g., 5 minutes,30 seconds, 1 hour) from another time (e.g., a current time, a time wheninformation about the App Hash is received, a recent server time, and soon). In some embodiments, a component of the gaming service (e.g., adevice authenticator service) may validate that the client key is themost recent one sent to the mobile device identified by the identifyinginformation (e.g., by comparing the client key with a client key storedin a database keyed by the identifying information). In someembodiments, a component of the gaming service (e.g., a deviceauthenticator service) may validate the received hash. Such validationmay include creating a comparison hash of the client key and approvedoperating system files and/or components. Multiple comparison hashes maybe created for multiple approved operating systems. Such a validationmay include comparing the received hash with the comparison hash orhashes. If a comparison hash and the received hash are equal, then thecomparison hash may be determined to be valid. If they are not equal,then the comparison hash may be determined to be invalid. In someembodiments, a determination that the received hash is valid may be adetermination that the operating system is approved for use with thegaming service. A determination that the received has his invalid may bea determination that the operating system is not approved for use withthe gaming service.

It should be recognized that such an example of hash comparison is givenas a non-limiting example only. Other embodiments may include anydesired method or no method of such validation. For example, checksumsmay be used, random numbers may not be used, time stamps may not beused, device information may not be used, client keys may not be used,device information may be obtained from another source, additionalinformation may be used, and so on.

One further example of a determination that an operating system isapproved for use with a gaming service may include another method ofcomparing one or more hashes. For example, in some embodiments, anapplication (e.g., a wrapper application) may generate a hash of one ormore portions of one or more operating system files. Such a portion mayinclude less than an entirety of a section. In some embodiments,generating such a hash may include generating a hash of the one or moreportions along with a length of the one or more operating system files.For example, a hash of a beginning and end of a section (e.g., a file)of an operating system that manages control of communication interfacesalong with a length of the section may be created. The beginning and endmay include a first 128 bytes and last 128 bytes and/or any otherdesired size of a portion. In some embodiments, such a hash may betransmitted to a gaming service for comparison with one or more approvedhashes. It should be recognized that any portion or portions of asection may be used in various embodiments, in addition to and/or as analternative to a beginning and/or end.

In some embodiments, such hashing of portions and lengths rather than anentire file may provide reasonable assurances of an unaltered file. Suchassurance may be provided because it may be unlikely that a file may bealtered and yet result in a same hash result when a beginning, end andlength are hashed. Such a method may allow for faster verification thana method that includes a hash of an entire section. It should berecognized that while hashing is given as an example, that otherembodiments may include any desired transformation and/or notransformation at all (e.g., a comparison of actual files).

In some embodiments, a gaming service maybe updated to include newlyapproved comparison hashes as a gaming service determines that newoperating systems and/or modified operating systems should be approvedfor use with the gaming service.

Some embodiments may include transmitting information from a componentof a gaming service to a mobile device in response to a completion ofsuch a process, to complete such a process, as part of such a process,in response to verifying the operating system, in response to anotheraction of such a process, and so on. Some embodiments may includestoring information identifying that such a process has succeeded. Forexample, some embodiments may include determining a device sessionidentifier. Such an identifier may include a unique identifier that maybe used to identify a gaming session between the gaming service and themobile device. Such a device session identifier may be associated withthe mobile device (e.g., stored in a database). Such a device sessionidentifier may be time stamped (e.g., with the previously determinedtime stamp, with a time relative to the determination of the devicesession identifier, and so on). Such a device session identifier mayinclude a random number. Such a device session identifier may betransmitted to a mobile device and/or stored in a location to identify asuccess of such a process. Such a device session identifier may bereceived by a wrapper application and/or other software component. Sucha device session identifier may be stored by the mobile device (e.g., inan encrypted form, in local storage, in memory, in a location reservedfor the mobile gaming application and/or a component thereof, in alocation reserved for the wrapper application and/or other softwarecomponent, in allocation only accessible by a desired application, andso on). Such a device session identifier may be transmitted with futurerequests from the device to identify that a process has completedsuccessfully. When a future request is received by a component of agaming service, a comparison of a received device session identifier maybe made to ensure that a valid device session identifier is receivedwith the request. Accordingly, such a check may ensure that only devicesthat have completed such a process can access a gaming service.

In some embodiments, if a part of this process fails, the device may beconsidered unauthorized by the server and requests (e.g., gaming relatedcommunications) may be refused. It should be recognized that such anexample process is given as a non-limiting example only. Otherembodiments may include differently ordered actions, differentcomponents, no actions, more actions, fewer actions, and so on. Anyaction may be taken in response to any other action being successful(e.g., a determination of application software being valid may cause adetermination as to whether or not operating system software is valid tooccur).

Device and/or User Security

In some embodiments, at least a part of such an initial validity and/orhandshake may be performed by a wrapper application. If such an initialprocess is completed successfully, a main application may be executed(e.g., by the wrapper application). Such a main application may performa device and/or user security process. In other embodiments, a wrapperapplication may perform any desired other actions (e.g., a belowprocess), a single application may be used, any arrangement of programsmay be used, and so on.

Some embodiments may include a process for providing a level ofassurance as to a device and/or user security. In some embodiments, sucha process may be performed at a start of a gaming application,throughout an execution of a gaming application, in response to alogging into a gaming service, in response to a completion of an initialhandshake and/or other initial process, parallel to an initial handshakeand/or initial process, before an initial handshake and/or initialprocess, as part of an initial handshake and/or initial process, and/oras otherwise desired. Such a device security process may includedetermining that a device is locally used and/or preventing a devicefrom being remotely accessed.

Some embodiments may include establishing a connection between a maingaming application and a wrapper application. Such a connection mayinclude a socket. Such a connection may include a shared memory space.Some embodiments may include a wrapper application opening a socket.Such a socket may only be accessible by software executed on the mobiledevice. In some embodiments, a main application may connect to thesocket and/or memory space. The socket and/or memory space may be usedfor communication between the applications.

Some embodiments may include verifying that a connection betweenapplications and/or shared identifiers are valid. For example, in anAndroid environment, a lock file may be written to a data store of afirst application (e.g., a wrapper application). An Android operatingsystem may prevent a second application (e.g., a main application)running on the mobile device from accessing the first application unlessthe application have been signed by a same application signature. Asecond application may attempt to delete the lock file form the firstapplication's data store. In some embodiments, if the applicationsproperly share the same signature, the deletion may occur. The firstapplication may verify that the deletion has occurred. If the deletionhas occurred, the first application may be confident that the secondapplication shares a valid signature with the first application. Asanother example, some embodiments may verify that the only twoapplications running under a particular user identifier are the twoapplications and/or other gaming applications that are approved. In someembodiments a verification that the two and/or more applications arerunning under a same user identifier. The first application may share adevice session identifier with the second application in response to oneor more such determinations.

Some embodiments may include determining that a user is authorized touse a gaming service and/or that a device is authorized to use a gamingservice. For example, some embodiments may include soliciting userinformation (e.g., login information, device authentication swipepattern, etc.). Such a solicitation may be performed by a gamingapplication (e.g., a wrapper application, a main application, etc.)running on a mobile device. For example, a user may be solicited for ausername and password. A user name and password may be received by agaming application in response to a user entering such information intoa mobile device. Some embodiments may include transmitting suchinformation from a gaming application to a component of a gamingservice. For example, in some embodiments, such information may betransmitted to a gateway device. In some embodiments, an accountinformation (e.g., account number, username, password, pin, etc.) may betransmitted to such a gateway and/or other device. In some embodiments,such a transmission may include a transmission of a device sessionidentifier and/or any other information that may be used to identify adevice, a session, a previously authentication of information, and/ortrack any desired information. Various actions may be performed by agaming application (e.g., a wrapper application, a main application,etc.) running on a mobile device.

In some embodiments, a gateway and/or other component of a gamingservice (e.g., middleware, servers, etc.) may enable a communicationsession (e.g., HTTP session, HTIP session) for a mobile device. Thegateway and/or other component may associate a device identifier with acommunication session. For example, such a communication session mayonly be usable when it is accessed using the device identifier unless adifferent or other identifier is associated with the session. In someembodiments, a communication session may be defined by one or morevariables (e.g., a port number, an id number). Such variables may beshared with a mobile device and future communications may include suchvariables.

Some embodiments may include determining that a mobile device is/was ata location that is approved for gaming. Such a determination may be madein response to receiving account information from a mobile device by agaming service. In some embodiments, a device session identifier may betransmitted from a gateway and/or other component to a differentcomponent for verification (e.g., to a device authenticator service).Such a device authenticator service may verify the device sessionidentifier and determine if the device session identifier is associatedwith an approved location. If the device session identifier isassociated with an approved location, the device authenticator servicemay transit an indication of approval to the gateway. In someembodiments, a single device may perform such approval actions. Itshould be recognized that such a process of determining whether a deviceis/was at an approved location is given as an example only. For example,in some embodiments a device itself may determine whether it is in anapproved location, a gateway and/or other component may determinewhether the device is in an approved location, any device may determinewhether the device is in an approved location, a current location may bedetermined, an old location may be used, and so on. Various examples ofdetermining locations and/or storing location information are givenherein. None of such examples are limiting.

In some embodiments, a gaming service may validate user information.Such a validation may occur in response to receiving the userinformation, in response to determining that the device is/was in anapproved location, in response to another event, and so on. For example,in some embodiments, a gateway and/or other component may transmit useraccount information to another component of a gaming service (e.g.,device authenticator service, mobile gaming service, etc.). Such anothercomponent may validate the account information (e.g., determine thatusername and password are accurate, compare information to informationin a database, etc.).

In some embodiments, if the information is validated, such a componentmay transmit an indication of such validation to a gateway and/or othercomponent. Such an indication may include a gaming session identifier. Agaming session identifier may be determined in response to adetermination that the information is valid. Such a gaming sessionidentifier may include a unique identifier. Such a gaming sessionidentifier may include a random number. A gateway and/or other componentmay receive such an identifier. Such a gateway and/or other componentmay associate such an identifier with a communication session for themobile device (e.g., further communication may require such a identifierunless it is changed). In some embodiments, a mobile device (e.g., amain application and/or wrapper application) may be notified of such anidentifier and/or a success of an authentication of a user. Such amobile device application may store such an identifier for use in futurecommunication. Future requests from a mobile device may be required toinclude such an identifier.

In some embodiments, such validation may occur only if the device is/wasat an approved location. If the device does not pass a location check,the device may be prevented from gaming and such a login may not beperformed. In other embodiments, such a login may continue regardless ofthe location of the device. In some embodiments some features of agaming service may be disabled if the location check does not pass.

It should be recognized that while some embodiments have been describedas having separate processes (e.g., an initial handshake and/or auser/device security process) and/or separate applications (e.g., awrapper application and a main application) that various embodiments mayinclude a single process and/or a single applications, multipleprocesses, and/or applications, differently ordered and/or interactingapplications and/or processes, and so on.

In some embodiments, after such an initial handshake process and/or adevice and/or user security process, one or more variables may bedefined. For example in the example methods, a gaming session identifierand/or communication session may be defined by the user and/or devicesecurity process, and/or a device session identifier may be defined byan initial handshake process. Such variables may be checked, updated,changed, tracked, and so on. Such variables may be required for furthercommunication from the mobile device to be allowed to access gamingservices. For example, if communication is received by the gamingservice without such variables being valid, the communication may beignored and/or not allowed to form a wager. Such variables are given asnon-limiting examples only. Other embodiments may include differentvariables, additional variables, no variables, different applications,and so on as desired.

In some embodiments, a determination that a device has been registeredto the user may be made in such a process. For example, after and/orbefore a user is authenticated, a user may be prompted for a deviceauthentication information such as a pattern swipe assigned during asign up process. Such information may be transmitted to a gaming servicewhich may verify that the device has been resisted for use with a gamingservice. Such verification may be in similar form to the verification ofa username and/or password. Such verification may be required beforegaming may occur and/or before a gaming session identifier is assigned.

It should be recognized that various security processes and/orapplications are given as non-limiting examples only. Other embodimentsmay include any and/or no processes in any order, with any actions, andso on. Such processes may include additional, fewer, different, same,differently ordered, and so on actions.

On Going Validity Examples

Some embodiments may include one or more actions related to maintainingsecurity, maintaining location information, and/or creating some levelof assurances that some requirements are met. For example, someembodiments may include continuous, periodic, occasional, randomly, ondemand, in response to action, and/or other actions. Such actions mayinclude location checks, device checks, user checks, and so on.

Variable Maintenance Examples

In some embodiments, such actions may include maintaining one or morevariables, expiring one or more variables, redefining one or morevariables, and so on. Some embodiments may include actions related tovariables defined in other security processes, such as those discussedabove. For example, a device session identifier, a gaming sessionidentifier, and a communication session may be used in some embodiments.Such variables may have limited valid lifetimes, may be redefinedperiodically, may expire after some time, may be required tooccasionally redefined, and so on. For example, in some embodiments, adevice session identifier may be valid for about 30 seconds, about 3minutes, about 5 minutes, about 10 minutes, about 1 hour, and/or anydesired time. As another example, a gaming session identifier may bevalid for about 30 seconds, about 3 minutes, about 5 minutes, about 10minutes, about 1 hour, and/or any desired time. As yet another example,a communication session may be valid for about 30 seconds, about 3minutes, about 5 minutes, about 10 minutes, about 1 hour, and/or anydesired time. New variables may be defined in a similar fashion to theiroriginal definitions (e.g., by a device authenticator service, by amobile gaming service, by a gateway, by a server, by another component,using hash values, using checksums, using random numbers, usingtimestamps, and so on).

Various examples of defining such variables are given elsewhere, but itshould be recognized that such examples are non-limiting and thatsimilar, different, same, alternative, and so on methods may be used toredefine and/or define any same and/or different variables as desired.It should be recognized that variables, and time frame for validity aregiven as non-limiting examples only and that other methods may includeno, other, same, different, and so on variables; no, different, same,and so on methods of maintaining security and/or other characteristics,my use different time frames, my use random time frames, may randomlyrequire redefinition, may require definition upon and event (e.g., awager request), and so on.

Characteristic Examples

In some embodiments, one or more actions may be related to validatingone or more characteristics of a device and/or user of a device. Someembodiments may include actions related to such characteristics (e.g.,location, user identity, lack of external control of device, etc.). Forexample, in some embodiments, a disabling of external access to a mobiledevice may be validated, a location of a device at an approved gaminglocation may be validated, a user identify information may be validated,one or more variables being valid may be determined, and so on. In someembodiments, such validation may occur periodically, randomly, ondemand, in response to an action, as desired, and so on.

For example, some embodiments may include validating that some and/orall external communication (e.g., except communication used to access agaming service such as a mobile phone network) are disabled. Someembodiments may include a gaming application executed by a mobile devicequerying an operating system of a mobile device. For example, a mainapplication may transmit a query to a wrapper application. The wrapperapplication may query the operating system. In some embodiments, inresponse to such a query, the operating system may determine if anyinvalid interfaces are enabled and return such information to thewrapper application and/or main application. In response to suchinformation the validation may fail (e.g., if unapproved interfaces areenables) and/or succeed (e.g., if no unapproved interfaces are enabled).Some examples of interfaces that may not be approved may includeBluetooth, Wi-Fi, docking port, and/or other interfaces. Such avalidating may occur continuously, periodically (e.g., every 5 seconds,every 15 seconds, every minute, every 5 minutes, every hour, etc.),randomly, on demand, and so on.

As another example, some embodiments may include validating that amobile device is/was at a location that is associated with allowedgaming. Some embodiments may include a component of a gaming systemmaking such a check independent of actions on the mobile device. Someembodiments may include the mobile device checking such a status (e.g.,by querying a gaming system and/or other location system). In someembodiments, a component of a gaming system (e.g., a deviceauthenticator service) may run checks on the location of the mobiledevice. Such a component may update a database with the check results,may enable or disable communication with a mobile device, features of agaming service in response to such results, may notify a mobile device(e.g., to disable a feature of the device and/or display in indicator)and/or user in response to such results. Such a check may be performedcontinuously, periodically (e.g., every 30 seconds, every 5 minutes,every 10 minutes, every 15 minutes, every hour, etc.), on demand, inresponse to an event, and so on.

In some embodiments that may use a multi-level location determinationmethodology, actions taken with respect to location verification maydiffer based on a level of location determination that is being used.For example, location rechecks may not be performed in some instancesfor as long as an IP address does not change if an IP locationdetermination level and/or trusted network level is being used. Locationrechecks may be performed less frequently as a confidence level of alocation increases (e.g., in response to a confidence level receivedfrom a third party, as a level of a method is closer to a first level,and so on). For example, in some embodiments, a gaming service mayaccept a location as valid and acceptable unless the IP address ornetwork changes if the device's location uses the example first level ofa multilevel location determination methodology described above (e.g.,trusted IP or network). As another example, in some embodiments, agaming service may occasionally recheck a location if the devicelocation is determined using another level (e.g., level 2 or level 3) ormay not recheck in some other levels (e.g. level 2) but may in others(e.g., level 3) in any combination. Frequency of rechecking may increaseas a level increases in some embodiments. Rechecking in a known IP levelmay include determining whether an IP address has changed, checkingagain to verify that an IP address is still known, and so on.

In some embodiments, such location checks may be made more frequent whena mobile device is near an edge of an approved area than when the deviceis far from an edge of an approved area. Some examples of actions thatrelate to locations near jurisdictional lines are that may be used insome embodiments are also described elsewhere. For example, in someembodiments, a check may be performed every 5 minutes if a device in aprevious check was near a border of a state, every 10 minutes if adevice was near an edge of an approved area but far from an edge of astate, and every 15 minutes if a device was not near a border of a stateor a border of an approved area. Various examples of locationdetermination are given elsewhere herein. It should be recognized thatexamples of location checking are given as non-limiting examples onlyand that other embodiments may include no, different, same, and so onmethods.

As yet another example, some embodiments may include determining whetheruser information is valid and/or whether a session or another variableis valid. For example, some embodiments may include transmitting arequest from a mobile device to a component of a gaming service (e.g., agateway). Such a request may include user information for validation,and or a request to verify that some variable is valid. For example, arequest may request that the gateway verify that a device authorizationsession is valid. Such request may be processed (e.g., by a deviceauthenticator service) and a response may be transmitted to the mobiledevice. Such a check may be performed continuously, periodically (e.g.,every 30 seconds, every 5 minutes, every 10 minutes, every 15 minutes,every hour, etc.), on demand, in response to an event, and so on.

Various examples of characteristics and methods validation should berecognized as non-limiting. Other embodiments may include no, similar,different, same, alternative, and so on methods and/or characteristics.

Event Examples

In some embodiments, one or more actions may be related to validatingone or more characteristics of a device, user, and/or variable inresponse to an event. For example, in some embodiments, when acommunication is received from a mobile device, a gaming service mayperform such one or more actions. In some embodiments, suchcommunication may include a request to take a game action (e.g., place awager, join a game, pay an entry fee, risk an amount of money orpoints), a request to view available games or game actions, a request toview an account, and so on. For example, in some embodiments, inresponse to a request being made to and/or through a gateway and/orother component of a gaming service (e.g., after initial login) one ormore actions may be taken.

Some embodiments may include transmitting a request from a mobile deviceto a gaming service. For example, a wrapper application and/or mainapplication may transmit a request to a gateway, and/or other componentof a gaming service. Such a request may identify any desired variables(e.g., a communication session, a device session identifier, a gamingsession identifier, a client key, and so on). Such a request may includea request to take a gaming related action, such a request may include apolling of a gaming service to determine current information (e.g.,current games, current scores, account history, current account values,etc.). Some embodiments may include periodic, random, constant, etc.polling. In some embodiments, such polling may not initiate suchvalidation actions.

Some embodiments may include receiving such a request by a component ofa gaming service. For example, such a request may be received by agateway and/or other component of a gaming service. In some embodimentsa determination may be made that such a request triggers one or morevalidation actions (e.g., all request may trigger such actions, every Xrequest may trigger such actions, randomly some requests may triggerssuch actions, certain types of requests may triggers such actions, adetermination may be made the request is not a polling request, adetermination may be made that the request is a request take a gameaction, a request every Y minutes may trigger such actions, etc.).

A gateway or other device may perform any desired actions in response toreceiving such a request and/or determining that such actions should beperformed. For example, in some embodiments, a gateway or othercomponent may determine that a communication session identified by arequest is properly associated with the device from which it is received(e.g., by querying a database).

As another example, in some embodiments (e.g., if the communicationsession check passes) a gateway and/or other component may validate adevice session and/or location information. For example, in someembodiments, a gateway and/or other component may transmit a request forvalidation of a device session and/or location to a device authenticatorservice. A database of information may be queried to determine if one ormore variables are valid (e.g., if a device session identifierassociated with the device is valid, have not expired). A database ofinformation may be queried to determine if a mobile device was lastdetermined to be at a location where gaming is allowed. In someembodiments, a new location of the device may be determined. If suchchecks pass, a timestamp of a last valid check may be updated. Suchinformation may be returned to a gateway and/or other component. Itshould be recognized that such examples of validation are given asexamples only and that other methods may include different components,characteristics, and/or actions.

As yet another example, in some embodiments, if a validation is made ofone or more characteristics from a device authenticator, a gatewayand/or other component may validate any desired characteristic and/orvariable with any components. For example, a gaming session identifiermay be validated with a component of a gaming service. Such a component(e.g., server, account based wagering service) may query a database todetermine if a gaming session identifier is valid (e.g., correct, notexpired). A timestamp of a last check may be updated, and a gatewayand/or other component may be notified of a success or failure tovalidate the information.

In some embodiments, in response to a validation action taken inresponse to a received request, a request may be processed and/orinformation may be updated. For example, one or more timestamps of lastactions may be updated, one or more game actions may be taken, one ormore account transactions may be performed, requested information may beobtained, actions in a game may be taken (e.g., a hit in a blackjackgame), and so on. Some embodiment may include returning a result to amobile device (e.g., transmitting). Some embodiments may includepresenting such a result to a user.

Various examples of characteristics and methods validation should berecognized as non-limiting. Other embodiments may include no, similar,different, same, alternative, and so on methods and/or characteristics.

In some embodiments, if one or more validation actions of any describedmethod or other methods fails (e.g., if a variable is determined to beincorrect or expired, if a device is determined to be allowing externalcontrol, if a password is incorrect, if a location is not proper, etc.),one or more actions may be prevented and/or taken. For example, in someembodiments, a communication with a device may be prevented, wageringactions may be prevented, access to a gaming service may be halted, auser may be notified of an error, and so on.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example process that may be used in someembodiments for validation and/or use of a mobile device. Such a processmay include actions performed by a mobile device, actions performed by agaming application (e.g., a main application, a wrapper application, andso on), actions performed by a component of a gaming service and/oragent of a gaming service (e.g., a device authenticator service, acommunication provider, a location service, and so on) and/or actionsperformed as desired by any entity. For example, some embodiments mayinclude requesting an initiation of a location tracking of a mobiledevice, tracking a mobile device, providing location information about amobile device, determining if a customer has tampered with a clientand/or operating system, determining whether one or more communicationinterfaces are enabled and/or active, and so on. It should be recognizedthat such actions are given as non-limiting examples and that otherembodiments may include performing any actions in any order as desired.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example set of applications that may be executedby a mobile device to facilitate access to a mobile gaming service. Suchapplications may include a wrapper application and a main application. Awrapper application may initiate execution of a main application andperform one or more security checks. A main application may performgaming actions in connection with a gaming service. It should berecognized that this example process and applications are given asnon-limiting examples only. Other embodiments may include different,same, additional, alternative, differently orders, and so on actsperformed by same and/or different entities and/or devices as desired.

Further Location Examples

Some embodiment may include one or more location determination featuresand/or features that may be affected by a location of a mobile device.Such features may include determining an actual location, determining arelative location, determining whether a location is a valid location,disabling a feature based on a location, enabling a feature based on alocation, adjusting a feature based on a location, and so on. Examplesof a multi-level location determination methodology are describedelsewhere and may be used in various embodiments. Additional and/oralternative methodologies may also be used to enhance and/or otherwiseprovide location information as desired.

Some embodiments may include one or more technologies that may be usedto determine a location of a customer and/or mobile device. One exampletechnology may include a geofencing technology. For example, a gamingoperator may determine that the customer is playing in Nevada by usinggeofence capability (e.g., Sprint geofencing services). In someembodiments, to implement a geofencing technology, a gaming operator mayperform geofencing calculations, work with Sprint, work with anothergeofencing provider, and/or work with a third party provider to ensurethat desired locations are geofenced (e.g., the city of Las Vegas, Reno,Tahoe and/or other gaming locations within the state of Nevada and/orelsewhere). Customers may be allowed to engage in mobile gaming if they(e.g., a device they are using) are physically inside the approvedboundaries. Customers may be prevented from engaging in gaming if theyare not physically inside the approved boundaries. The service and/orinformation to enable the service may be offered to Sprint customersand/or customers of any desired cellular and/or other network serviceprovider.

In some embodiments, a location of a device may be obtained from alocation providing source (e.g., a cell phone provider may identify alocation of a device to a gaming operator in response to the gamingoperator asking the provider where a phone with a particular telephonenumber is located). The gaming operator may use the location of thephone to determine if the phone is in or out of one or more geofences(e.g., entering coordinates of a phone into a geofencing algorithm suchas a winding or counting algorithm). In other embodiments, a third partymay provide such geofencing services for the gaming operator.

Location Refinement Examples

Some embodiments may include determining a refinement of a location insome instances. For example, in some embodiments as discussed herein, alocation may be determined using a multi-level determinationmethodology. Such a determination may result in a broad determination(e.g., in a state, in a jurisdiction, on a network, etc.).

In some instances, a more refined location may be desired. For example,in some instances, an advertisement campaign may be based on a locationof a user with respect to a merchant. Accordingly, a distance from sucha merchant may be desired and may be determined using an additionallocation determination method (e.g., GPS report from device, geofencing,etc.). As another example, a game may be offered to a group of people ina particular location, a tournament may be held in a particularlocation, collusion detection may use location of players in amultiplayer game as input, a refinement may be desired when an IPaddress of a device changes, and so on.

In response to a desire to use a more refined location as input, agaming service may perform an action to obtain a location refinement(e.g., query a device, cause a gaming application on the device totransmit a GPS location, query a geofencing service, accessing asofttage system, and so on). A gaming service may receive such arefinement and determine whether the refined location qualifies and/orauthenticates the device (e.g., if the device is in a location thatqualifies for a tournament, advertisement, game play, etc.). If thedevice is qualified and/or authenticated based on the refinement, thedevice may be controlled to allow action and/or present informationaccordingly. If not, the device may be prevented from accessingfunctionality and/or not presented with information accordingly.

Collusion Examples

Some embodiments may include performing a refined location determinationin response to a user playing a multiplayer game such as a tournamentthrough a gaming service provider. Such location determinationrefinement may be used in response to a determination that a higherlevel location determination shows that more than one user playing amultiplayer game and/or tournament may be in a same area (e.g., an areacovered by a known network). Such refined location determination may beused to detect and/or prevent collusion among and/or between users in amultiplayer game and/or tournament.

For example, in some embodiments, a determination may be made that twousers are in a tournament and using a same network to access a gamingservice (e.g., at a first level of a multi level gaming determinationmethodology). A determination may be made that the two users areassociated with a tournament and/or multiplayer game (e.g., competingagainst each in a game, in a same leg of a tournament, etc.). Inresponse to such determinations, a refined location determination may bemade for the users. For example, a geofence may be used to determine amore refined location, a softtag may be used, and/or a GPS of a devicemay be queried to determine more refined locations.

Such refined levels of locations may be used to prevent and/or detectcollusion. For example, the users may be prevented from playing in thetournament until they move further apart if they are in a same location.As another example, users may be identified that they should move in aparticular direction to continue play. In yet another example, users maybe warned that a continued movement in a direction may cause them tomove too close to each other. In still a further example, a record maybe stored to indicate that review may be warranted of play in thisand/or other games and/or video future to determine if collusion may beoccurring. It should be recognized that any desired actions may be takenwith respect to collusion prevention based on location in any manner.

It should be recognized that although examples of location refinementare given in terms of a single level of refinement that any number oflevels may be used. For example, a soft tag may be used in one level, ifthat does not result in a difference in location of users and/or aspecific enough location, a geofence may be used. If a geofence does notresult in a difference of locations and/or a specific enough location, aGPS may be queried. It should be recognized that any ordering of levelsof refinement and/or number of levels may be used with any desiredtechnology in any manner in various embodiments.

Location Based Adjustments Examples

Some embodiments may include making an adjustment to a service based ona location. For example, a gaming application executed by a mobiledevice may be adjusted based on a determined location of a device. Insome embodiments, a device may be controlled to make such a change inresponse to the gaming service determining the location.

For example, an application may be branded according to a location(e.g., if a device is determined to be in the Venetian based on thedevice accessing the gaming service from a Venetian wifi network, thedevice may be branded with the Venetian logo). As another example, anapplication may prevent a user from selecting certain options and/oraccounts based on a location (e.g., if a device is determined to be inthe Venetian based on a geofence around the Venetian indicating that thedevice is within it, the device may be prevented from logging intonon-Venetian accounts, the device may be able to access Venetian games,the device may be prevented from accessing games that are not approvedfor play in the Venetian, Las Vegas, and/or Nevada). An application on adevice and/or a gaming service provider may control the device torestrict access to accounts and/or display branding based on thelocation.

In some embodiments, a device may be forced to access a gaming providerthrough a known network if that network is available. For example, insome embodiments, an application running on a mobile device may pollavailable wifi connections and compare those connections to a known listof wifi connections (e.g., based on an SSID list of known wificonnections). If a match is found, the mobile device may beautomatically forced to connect to the wifi network in response and/ormay be denied access to a gaming provider if a manual connection is notmade. A user may be notified of the network so that they may make amanual connection. In some embodiments, an additional check on whetherthe network is the actual network may be made. For example, a locationand a network SSID may be required to match before such a connection isforced upon a device. For example, because multiple networks may share asame SSID in different locations.

In some embodiments, as a device changes locations (e.g., in response toa gaming provider determining a location change), branding, options, andso on may be changed. For example, if a device is moved from a locationcovered by a wifi network of a casino into a location that is notcovered by that wifi network, a location determination (e.g., performedin response to the device accessing the gaming provider from a new IPaddress and/or through a different interface) may reveal a new locationof the device. In response to the new location, an option and/orbranding may change (e.g., based on the new location, to a neutralbranding based on the location being on a street, etc.).

In some embodiments, a gaming provider may facilitate branding and/oroptions for one or more entities. For example, a merchant such as aStarbucks may desire to have their own branding so that when a useraccesses a gaming provider through the Starbucks network, some Starbucksbranding appears. In some embodiments, such a merchant may partner witha casino or other venue so that accounts and/or options available whenaccessing a merchant's network may be the same or similar as to when thedevice accesses the casino or other venue's network. Accordingly, aapplication may be controlled (e.g., by a gaming operator) to displayappropriate branding and/or options based being in a merchant location.

It should be recognized that although various examples of adjustmentsbased on location are given that various embodiments may use location tomake any type of adjustment and/or no adjustment as desired. Forexample, options, branding, software, functionality, and so on may bechanged based on location. Such change may be facilitated by controllingsoftware on a device from a gaming service, controlling information sentto a device from a gaming service, adjusting software on a device, andso on based on a location.

Location Affinity Examples

Some embodiments may include associating a particular location with oneor more advertising elements, available games, user interfaces, skins,user accounts, and so on. For example, in some embodiments, a user thatis in the M Resort may be allowed to play games (e.g., sports wagers,and/or casino games) that may be allowed by the M Resort. For example,the user may be limited to only games that are offered by the M,approved by the M, have an M skin, and/or are otherwise limited and/orcustomized based on being located within the M Resort. In someembodiments, a user may be limited to using an account at the M Resortwhen located in the M Resort. In some embodiments, a user may be limitedto selecting an M Resort account from a list of accounts from which toplace wagers, an M Resort App, an M Resort menu item from a menu ofgaming items, and/or other elements related to the M Resort when in theM Resort. In some embodiments such restriction may apply to a particulartype of gaming such as casino gaming but may not to another type ofgaming, such as sports gaming.

For example, in some embodiments, if a user is in a geofence that isaround the M Resort, the user may be determined to be in the M Resort.For example, one of the geofences described above may be around the MResort and a query result from a location service may indicate whetherthe user is in or out of that particular geofence to be used by a gamingservice to determine whether the user is in or out of the M Resort. Insome embodiments, if a user is accessing a M Resort communicationnetwork for gaming (e.g., an M Resort wifi network), the user may bedetermined to be in the M Resort. In response to being determined to bein the M Resort, features may be enabled and/or disabled as desired(e.g., a user may be prevented from logging into a non-M Resort account.

In some embodiments, determining a location may be performed usinggeofencing such that a first geofence around a casino and a secondgeofence around a city may be used. For example, such a concentricgeofencing may allow for a user in a casino to be limited to thingsapproved by the casino, but a user outside of the casino to be allowedto use things approved outside the casino, which may include more,fewer, same, and/or different things than those approved in the casino.For example, more than one type of gaming may be allowed outside thecasino, such as sports wagers from multiple books not just the M Resortand/or casino games using money from accounts not located at the MResort. Other methods of location determination, such as a multilevellocation determination methodology, a soft tagging system, and so on maybe used.

In some embodiments, as an alternative and/or addition to determininglocation based on geofencing a determination of a location may be basedon available communication networks. For example, one or moredeterminations may be made by a software application of a device as towhether one or more wireless networks or other communication networksfrom a set of pre-approved networks are available. Each such preapprovedcommunication may be associated with a particular location. If awireless network of the set of wireless networks is available, then thedevice may be required to establish a connection to that network inorder to play a game. Access to gaming through any other network such asa cellular network that may also be available may be prohibited when oneor more of the pre-approved networks are available. Accordingly, in someembodiments when inside of a casino such as the M Resort that may offera wireless connection to an M Resort network that is associated withbeing in the M Resort, a device may determine that the pre-approved MResort network is available. The device may stop access to a cellularnetwork for gaming purposes in response to determining that thepre-approved network is available. The device may connect to the MResort network in response to determining that the M Resort network isavailable. Limitations, abilities, restrictions and so on associatedwith being in the M Resort may be associated with gaming using the MResort network, and therefore, the device. Such limitations may beimposed upon the device by the device, by a server to which the deviceconnects, by a gateway through which the device connects, and/or in anyother way. For example, in some embodiments, based on an SSID on thenetwork, a gateway server may limit available accounts that may besigned into, based on the account signed into, a central server maylimit available gaming options, based on the SSID of the network, adevice may apply a skin and/or restrictions, based on an SSID a centralserver may apply limitations, and so on. As discussed above, someverification that the network SSID is of the actual network may be used,such as a location matching for the SSID (e.g., in response to detectingthe SSID, a device may notify a gaming service and/or trigger a locationdetermination and if the location matches a location that should have anaffinity then that affinity may be applied).

Such information about networks and/or locations may be used todistribute winnings, direct advertising, prevent users from becomingangry or feel cheated by a casino in which they are located even thoughthey are playing games that may be offered through another casino, andso on.

In some embodiments, to accomplish such network limited functionality, adevice may be configured to check for an availability of one or morepre-approved communication networks, such as a Wi-Fi connection (e.g.,by a gaming application, a wrapper application, etc.). Such checking maytake place periodically, continually, randomly, on demand, and so on.When any one of those pre-approved communication networks is available,the device may connect to that instead of any other networks. Ifmultiples are available then a strongest signal or otherwise preferrednetwork may be used.

In some embodiments, to continue ensuring that no remote control is usedthrough a Wi-Fi connection so that a player is physically present, whengaming through a cellular network, the Wi-Fi may be disabled for actualdata receipt and/or connection unless and/or until such a pre-approvednetwork is detect, a Wi-Fi connection may be turned on for short periodsonly to check if the network is available (in some embodiments, duringwhich time the other gaming may be suspended), a Wi-Fi device may be onbut unable to connect to any network accept the preapproved networks, aWi-Fi device may be controlled by a proprietary software that limitsaccess to any networks other than the preapproved networks, and so on.

When a pre-approved network is detected a cellular network may be nolonger available for gambling through a gaming application (e.g., theapplication may be notified of the availability and disconnect from orotherwise limit access to a gaming server through the cellular network,a gaming server may be notified and limit access to games, and so on).The user may be prompted to login through the Wi-Fi network and/or mayautomatically be logged in through such a network instead. Similarlywhen the Wi-Fi network is no longer available, if the cellular networkis available, the user may be prompted to login there and/or may beautomatically logged in there instead. As discussed above, someverification that the network SSID is of the actual network may be used,such as a location matching for the SSID.

A start up process that may be performed before gaming is allowed on amobile device in such an embodiment may require that Wi-Fi be enabledthroughout the use of the device, may require that a Wi-Fi diagnostic bepassed, may require that an approved application has control over aWi-Fi device, and so on. If no approved Wi-Fi network is available, thecellular network may be used to gamble such as described elsewhereherein, for example.

It should be recognized that various examples of location service and/orlocation affinity are given as non-limiting examples only.

Geofencing Examples

One example location feature may include a geofencing service.Geofencing capability may be used to help ensure that a customer is/wasat an approved area (e.g., when a location check is performed, when awager request is received by a gateway, etc.). One example of ageofencing technology provider includes Sprint. In some embodiments, agaming operator may perform geofencing calculations on its own and/orwith input from another location service provider (e.g., a cell phoneservice provider that can provide coordinates of a cell phone whenqueried with the cell phones telephone number). In some embodiments,such geofencing technology may be used to determine whether a customeris/was at the city of Las Vegas, Reno, Tahoe and/or other gaminglocations in the state of Nevada that are geofenced. In someembodiments, customers may play games if they (e.g., the device they areusing) are/were physically in the boundaries of an approved geofence. Insome embodiments customers may not play games if they are/were not inthe boundaries. Another example geofence is provided by a company namedLocaid. It should be recognized that any desired location providingservice may be used in various embodiments and that examples givenherein are non-limiting. For example, while some examples are given interms of a geofencing service providing inside or outside results to aquery, other embodiments may have a geofencing service provide acoordinates of a device and a gaming service may make a check to see ifthose coordinates are inside or outside one or more geofences.Accordingly, it should be recognized that a geofencing service need notnecessarily apply the geofence to the coordinates but merely providessome information that enables geofencing to be applied.

A geofence may include a virtual perimeter of a real-world geographicarea. Some example of parameters that may define a geofence around amajor city like Las Vegas, Reno, etc. may include: latitude 89.2 deg.,longitude 33.4 deg., radius 20 miles; and latitude 50.5 deg., longitude76.9 deg., radius 22 miles.

It should be recognized that any number of geofences in any locationwith any parameters may be used as desired. Geofences may be addedand/or removed at any time desired to increase, decrease, and/or changean area in which wagering is allow and/or not allow. For example,another set of example geofences may include: longitude 36° 05′ 58.37″N,latitude 115° 12′ 04.90″W, radius 20 miles; longitude 39° 38′ 58.68″N,latitude 119° 34′ 40.66″W, radius 20 miles; and longitude 39° 05′08.69″N, latitude 119° 34′ 10.61″W, radius 20 miles.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example of a series of geofences shown on a map ofNevada. The circles/discs in the map represent sample geofences. Agaming service may provide reasonable assurances that the customer isgaming in an approved area by using the capabilities that thesegeofences provide. In some embodiments, customers may be able to playgames (some or all games) if and only if they are physically inside ageofence, if an only if a last updated location (e.g., by a deviceauthenticator service) shows that the device was last at an approvedlocation, and so on. In some embodiments, customers cannot play games ifthey are physically outside a geofence and/or were last determined tophysically be outside of a geofence. It should be recognized that whileexamples are given in terms of circles that any desired geofence shapemay be used (e.g., a geofence around a casino).

Some embodiments may include determining whether a device is in or outof one or more geofences. Such determination may include, for example, adetermination by a geofencing provider (e.g., based on gps coordinatesof the device and the geofence(s), based on triangulation throughcommunication devices (e.g., cell towers), and so on). In someembodiments, such a determination may include a determination by acomponent of a gaming service (e.g., by querying a location serviceprovider, by calculating a location, by receiving an indication, and soon). Geofencing may include telematics hardware and/or software.

In some embodiments, when a device (e.g., a mobile device using a gamingservice, a location aware device, a device of a location-based service,etc.) enters or exits a geofence, the device and/or a component of agaming service (e.g., a device authenticator service) may receive agenerated notification (e.g., a provider of location services maytransmit a notice to a device indicating such a change in location).This notification might contain information about the location of thedevice (e.g., a current gps coordinates, a name of a geofence, a city,an indication that the device is in or out of a geofence, etc.). Such anotification may be transmitted to a mobile device over a communicationnetwork, to a component of a gaming service over a communicationnetwork, to an email account, as a text message (e.g., SMS), and so on.

Some embodiments may include taking any desired action in response to acrossing and/or near crossing of a geofence border. For example, inresponse to a leaving and/or near leaving of a geofenced area, a vehiclemay be stopped, a third party may be notified, a gaming service may benotified, a game may be stopped, a mobile device may be affected (e.g.,shut down, an application may be halted, and so on), and so on. Suchactions may be facilitated by a gaming service provider in response todetermining such a change to a location and/or a location serviceprovider.

As yet another example of a working of a location service, someembodiments may include a location service that may be queried asdesired to determine a location. For example, a communication serviceprovider (e.g., Sprint) may track a current location of a mobile deviceusing a communication service (e.g., through gps coordinates, throughcell towers or other communication access points being accessed, etc.).Such tracking may be performed continually and/or in response to arequest.

In some embodiments, a gaming service may transmit a query to verify alocation and/or perform a calculation to verify a location as desired.For example, a gaming service may transmit a query to a location servicewhenever a variable has expired, periodically, in response to a query,etc. In some embodiments, such a query may ask the location service if amobile device is in a boundary of one or more geofences. In someembodiments, such a query may ask the location service for a location ofa mobile device and a gaming service may determine if the mobile deviceis in the one or more geofences by comparing the location to thegeofences.

In some embodiments, a gaming service may desire to minimizedeterminations and/or queries regarding locations. For example, suchdeterminations may require processing time that is desired for otherprocesses, and/or a location service may charge a fee for responding tosuch queries. Some embodiments may include a variable frequency and/orneed for such queries and/or determinations. Some embodiments mayinclude determining when to make a determination of a location based ona distance from boundary (e.g., a boundary of a geofence, a boundary ofan allowed gaming area) of a prior location determination.

For example, in some embodiments, a time between determinations (e.g.,periodic determinations, random determinations, occasionaldeterminations, and so on) of a location (e.g., a frequency of a query)may be greater if a device is farther from a boundary of a geofence thanif the device is closer to a boundary of the geofence. For example, alocation variable may remain valid for longer if it is based on thelocation that is farther from the boundary. In some embodiments, aresponse to a query may indicate when a next query should be made basedon such a distance. In some embodiments, a response to a query mayindicate a distance from a boundary (e.g., an actual distance, acategory of distance, and so on). A gaming service may determine when tomake a next query based on such received information. Such querying mayinclude for example, querying every 5 seconds for close to a boundary,every 15 second for far from a boundary, a sliding scale, and so on. Insome embodiments, a query may be made for every transaction when closeto a boundary, every other transaction when far from the boundary, andso on. A determination may be made that a request from a mobile devicedoes not require a location determination based on a distance from aboundary.

Some embodiments may include concentric geofences that may be used todetermine when a query of a location is to be made. For example, aninner geofence may correspond to a location far from an allowed boundaryand may correspond to a longer time frame. An outer geofence maycorrespond to an actual and/or closer boundary of an approved area andmay include a more frequent determination. Some embodiments may includedetermining whether a determination of a location of a mobile deviceshould be made based on the mobile device being outside of at least onegeofence and inside of at least one other geofence.

It should be recognized that such examples of a determination rate beingrelated to a distance form an edge of an approved area are given asnon-limiting and that other embodiments may include any methods and/orapparatus that may in any way relate determinations to distance may beused as desired.

Some embodiments may include determining such a determination rate basedon a speed of a mobile device. For example, in some embodiments, a speedof a mobile device may be determined based on a current and priorlocation (e.g., the distance traveled between determinations divided bythe time between determinations). In some embodiments, a fastertraveling device may be associated with a faster rate and a slower speedmay be associated with a slower rate.

In some embodiments, a speed and distance may be used to determine sucha determination rate. For example, determination rate may be determinedsuch that at a determined speed, a device is unable to travel a distanceto a boundary in a determined time, is unable to travel half a distanceto the boundary, is unable to travel any threshold percentage of adistance to a boundary, and so on.

Although some examples have been described as having a concentric set ofgeofences with the outer fence being the most restrictive because it maybe closest to a boarder of an approved area, it should be recognizedthat this is a non-limiting example only. For example, some embodimentsmay include an inner geofence that is more restrictive that some or allouter geofences. It should be recognized that any arrangements ofgeofences may be used in various embodiments whether inner middle outerand so on are more or less restrictive than others.

For example, in some embodiments, a first set of licensing rules mayapply to devices used on a property within a jurisdiction, a second setof licensing rules may apply outside of the property within thejurisdiction, and a third set of rules may apply outside of thejurisdiction. Accordingly, a geofence covering the property may beestablished to allow gaming on the property. In such an embodiment, ifthe on property activities are a superset of the off propertyactivities, then the geofence may be a highly restrictive geofence(e.g., one that imposes high rate checks and/or high location checkingpolicies) to keep the location verified so that unallowed activities arenot performed off property. The geofence outside of the property may bea low restrictive geofence because the property may be located far fromthe jurisdiction boarder. Another geofence may be established near theborder, to provide a highly restrictive outer layer to preventunauthorized gaming outside of the jurisdiction. Accordingly, a devicethat is in all three geofences may be in a high check zone, a devicethat is in the outer and middle geofence may be in a low check zone, anda device that is in just the outer geofence may again be in a high checkzone. Different security may be applied and/or different gaming options(e.g., different games) may be presented through a device based on thelevel of geofence that the device is located in. A determination ofgames available and security procedures may be made by a gaming servicebased on a determination of the geofences that the device is located in.A gaming service may facilitate play of the games and facilitatesecurity checking according to a policy of the geofences that the deviceis located in.

Furthermore it should be recognized that while examples have been givenin terms of a desire for a device to be in a geofence to provide gamingservices that this is a non-limiting example. For example, in someembodiments, a zone within a geofence may be restricted from gamingservices but a zone outside the geofence may allow gaming services.

In some embodiments, a direction may be used to determine adetermination rate. For example, a direction may be determined based onprior two locations (e.g., traveling in the direction of the secondlocation from the first location). In some embodiments, a distance tothe boundary that may be used in determining a time period may be basedon a distance to the boundary in the direction of travel, a shortestdistance to the boundary in a range around the direction of travel(e.g., 20 degrees in either direction from the direction of travel, 90degrees in either direction form the direction of travel, and so on).

In some embodiments, a maximum time period may not be exceed (e.g., 1minute, 5 seconds, 1 hour, 10 minutes, etc.).

It should be recognized that any actions, processes, information, and soon may be used to determine a determination period as desired in anycombination with any desired restrains.

Various other services may be offered by a location providing service.For example, Geofencing may be used with child location services tonotify parents when a child leaves a designated area. A location-basedservice (LBS) may include an information and/or entertainment service,such as a mobile gaming service that may be accessible with mobiledevices through a mobile network. Such a service may make use of thegeographical position of a mobile device. LBS services can be used in avariety of contexts, such as health, work, personal life, etc. LBSservices may include services to identify a location of a person orobject, such as discovering the nearest banking cash machine or thewhereabouts of a friend or employee. LBS services may include parceltracking and vehicle tracking services. LBS can include mobile commercewhen taking the form of coupons or advertising directed at customersbased on their current location. They may include personalized weatherservices and even location-based games.

In some embodiments, technology may allow the creation of standaloneand/or overlapping geofences. Technology may allow creation of ageofence/circle of any given radius and/or shape. In some embodiments,this technology may prevent anyone outside of a fence from placingwagers. Geofencing may allow users of a system to draw zones aroundplaces of work, customer's sites and/or secure areas.

As an example, some embodiments may use a sandbox service for geofencingprovided by Sprint and/or may perform similar functionality. Such aservice is given as a non-limiting example only. This service mayinclude one or more geographical locations where each single positioncan be plotted with a geographic coordinate. A user may be able to builda perimeter around this location—a fence, based on those coordinates.Users of such a system may have the ability to build fences, add devicesrelated to those fences and be notified when a device is entering orleaving (or both). In some embodiments, to alleviate privacy concerns,only devices having explicitly granted access to an application may beable to interact with a geofence. A gaming service may provide suchfunctionality to customers to build and/or manage geofences as theydesire (e.g., a casino may establish its own geofence within which somebranding is applied by interacting with an API of a gaming operator toenter the geofence).

In some embodiments, one or more services may be available as part of ageofencing API to facilitate generating, eliminating, maintaining,querying, connecting, and so on regarding geofences. Some services maybe used to maintain devices being tracked in relation to a specificgeofence. Some services may be used with respect to managing, and/orreceiving notifications for one or more geofences. Some embodiments mayinclude one or more errors occurring with respect to a geofence. Someembodiments may include one or more services, functions, processes, APIsand so on performed, used, and/or offered by a device, and/or systemthat may interface and/or otherwise use a geofencing technology. Forexample, one or more of the services described and/or available throughSprint's geofencing services may be available and/or used to providesuch gaming services in some embodiments.

FIG. 6 illustrates some example processes that may be performed in someembodiments with respect to a geofence. It should be recognized thatthis is given as an example only and that other embodiments may includeother processes, other actions in any order performed by any device asdesired. It should be recognized that various examples of servicesand/or functions are given as non-limiting examples only. Some suchexample processes may include creating a geofence, adding a device to betracked by the geofence, subtracting a device, eliminating a geofence,changing a geofence, querying regarding a device and/or geofence,listing active and/or inactive geofences, activating a geofence,deactivating a geofence, and so on. Other embodiments may include othersuch features with different parameters, authentication requirements,arguments, responses, names, and so on

FIG. 7 illustrates an example architecture that may be used in someembodiments for location determination. As illustrated, one or moremobile device may communicate with a gateway. Such a gateway maycommunicate with a location determination service. In some embodiments,the gateway may determine whether a location determination is desire d(e.g., in response to a wager, periodically, in response to a variablebecoming invalid, etc.). The gateway may query the location service inresponse to determining that the location determination should takeplace. The location service may determine a location (e.g., a gpscoordinate, a physical location, whether a device is in or out of ageofence, a distance to an edge of a boundary, etc.). The locationservice may transmit such location information to a gateway. The gatewaymay enable and/or disable a service as desired, store information aboutthe location, and/or perform any desired actions in response toreceiving the location information. It should be recognized that such anarchitecture and process are given as non-limiting examples only andthat other embodiments may include any desired components of a gamingservice, location service, communication service, and so on as desiredin any combination performing any functions.

It should be recognized that examples of determining whether a device isin or out of a geofence are given as non-limiting examples only. Someembodiments may include any number of services to provide such features.For example, a third party may provide location services, acommunication service provider may provide location services, a gamingservice may provide location services, any aspect of a locationdetermination may be performed in part or in whole by any entitydesired.

Moving Access Point Example

In some embodiments, a group of devices may access a gaming servicethrough a single access point. That access point may be a mobile accesspoint. Accordingly, a determination of the location of the access pointmay be indicative of the location of the devices. For example, a boatmay include a Wi-Fi access point that allows devices to communicate witha gaming provider. If the Wi-Fi access point is in an allowedjurisdiction, then the devices that access the gaming service throughthe access point are likely to also be in an allowed jurisdiction.

Some embodiments may include a gps, geofencing, or other locationdetermination method for a portable access point. A gaming service maydetermine the location of the mobile access point, for example, bymaking a gps query to the device and enable or disable gaming servicesfor devices that access a network of the mobile access point. In someembodiments, the access point itself may determine its location andenable or disable gaming services for devices that access a network ofthe mobile access point.

In some embodiments, a network of such an access point may become atrusted network when it is in a gaming location that allows gaming, so asingle level of IP based location determination may be used. The samenetwork may be a known unapproved network when the access point isdetermined to be in an unapproved location, so further locationdetermination may not be used if an IP address of a device is known tobe on that network when the access point is not in an approved location.

In some embodiments, a gaming operator may determine that users areaccessing the gaming service through the trusted network that is also amoving network. In response, rather than simply allowing access as maybe done when a stationary trusted network is detected, a check of thelocation of the moving network may be performed. Access may be allowedif the network is in a allowed location. In some embodiments, when acheck of a device location would normally be performed, instead a checkof the access point location may be performed. In some embodiments, anaccess point may report when it enters and/or nears an unallowedlocation. Because the access point may be trusted, a gaming operator mayrely upon such self reporting rather than require independent locationchecks of the mobile access point. Accordingly, in such an embodiment, alocation check of a device may not be reperfomed while the device isaccessing the network through the mobile access point until the mobileaccess point identifies to the gaming operator that the mobile accesspoint's location is no longer and/or soon to be no longer in an allowedarea.

Other Geofencing Examples

As discussed, according to some embodiments, geofencing may be used todetermine if a customer/user (e.g., the device he is using) is withinthe boundaries of some predefined location and features and/or servicesetc. may be enabled, disabled and/or modified etc. based on thatdetermination. For example, a gaming service provider/gaming service mayuse geofencing to limit access to gaming activities (e.g., casinogaming/wagering, peer-to-peer gaming, card games, poker, sports wagering(e.g., football, basketball, baseball, soccer), lottery, horse/dog/autowagering, video gaming, play-for-fun, contest, sports lottery, bingo,keno, fantasy gaming, and/or various other forms of gaming and/orwagering on events including those discussed herein) tocustomers/devices that are within the boundaries of aparticular/predefined/permitted location(s) as defined by thegeofence(s). A gaming service provider may determine the location of adevice when a customer initially accesses the gaming activities (e.g.,as the customer logs into an account) and once provided access, mayre-determine the location (e.g., periodic determinations, randomdeterminations, occasional determinations, continuous determinations,and so on) of the device to ensure the device is still in a permittedlocation.

In some embodiments, a query to a geofencing service and/or calculationof a geofence may result in simply a yes or no indication that thedevice is in or out of the geofence. Such a service may allow a gamingservice to generate geofences and may maintain the geofences for thegaming service. In some embodiments, a query to a location service mayreturn a location (e.g., gps coordinates) of a device. The gamingservice may then apply the geofences to the coordinates to determine ifthe device is in or out of one or more geofences. It should berecognized that the use of the term geofence service does not indicatethat geofencing is actually applied at that level or that the service isa separate service from the gaming provider. For example, a gamingprovider itself may provide local geofencing capabilities just as it mayprovide local IP location capabilities.

As discussed, a geofence may be any shape including a circle or anyother shape, including a polygon. For a non-circular geofence, thegeofence may be defined by a series of ordered coordinates (e.g.,longitude and latitude) and the lines, for example, between consecutivecoordinates. Different methods may be used to determine whether a deviceis located within a geofence including, for a polygonal geofence, thewinding method and/or the counting method, although other methods may beused. As an example, a geofence may track the contours/borders of astate, city, town, casino property, etc. An example of using thecounting method may include a computing device receiving coordinates(e.g., longitude and latitude) of a device. The computing device maycast an infinite ray (and/or perform some calculations as if such a rayhad been cast) from those coordinates. The computing device may countthe number of times the ray intersects with the boundary defined by thelines between the series of coordinates, for example, of a geofence. Anodd number of crossings or intersections may indicate that the device isin the geofence while an even number may indicate that the device isoutside of the geofence.

A gaming service provider, for example, may determine the location of adevice through geofencing (i.e., determine whether a device is withinthe boundaries of a predefined geofence) in different manners including,for example, communicating a customer ID and/or device ID (e.g., a phonenumber), for example, to a communication service provider (e.g., a cellphone provider, Sprint, Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, etc.), which in returnmay provide an indication to the gaming service provider of whether adevice is within the boundaries of a defined geofence. As anotherexample, a gaming service provider may communicate a customer ID and/ordevice ID (e.g., a phone number), for example, to a third party which inturn may provide an indication of whether a device is within theboundaries of a defined geofence. For example, the third party mayobtain from a communication service provider the coordinates (e.g.,longitude and latitude) of a device, may determine from thosecoordinates whether a device is within the boundaries of a definedgeofence, and may then provide an indication to the gaming serviceprovider of whether the device is within the boundaries of the definedgeofence. As a further example, the gaming service provider maycommunicate a customer ID and/or device ID (e.g., a phone number), forexample, to a communication service provider, possibly indirectlythrough a third party, and in return obtain coordinates (e.g., longitudeand latitude) of a device. The gaming service provider may thendetermine from the coordinates whether the device is within theboundaries of a defined geofence.

As mentioned, a gaming service provider, once a user is provided accessto gaming activities, for example, may re-determine the location of adevice to ensure the device is still in a permitted location. Forvarious reasons, the gaming service provider may desire to minimizedeterminations and/or queries to a third party and/or communicationservice provider regarding device locations. For example, suchdeterminations may require processing time that is desired for otherprocesses, and/or a third party and/or communication service providermay charge a fee for responding to such queries. According to someembodiment, the gaming service provider may register a listenerapplication on a device. Such an application may be registered when acustomer initially accesses gaming activities (e.g., as the customerlogs into an account). Such an application may monitor the location andchanges therein of the device (e.g., through the use of GPS) and alertand/or report to the gaming service provider when a change in locationhas occurred. The application may report any change in location and/ormay report a change in location when the change has met somepredetermined amount or threshold (e.g., some predefined number ofinches, feet, meters, yards, miles, some deviation thereof, etc). Thepredetermined amount may be pre-configured in the listener application,may be set by the gaming service provider upon registering theapplication, and/or may be updated dynamically by the gaming serviceprovider as the customer accesses gaming activities. As another example,the application may report the location of a device and/or any changetherein at some time interval (e.g., periodic, random, and so on)regardless if there is actually a change in location. Again, the timeinterval may be pre-configured in the listener application, may be setby the gaming service provider upon registering the application, and/ormay be updated dynamically by the gaming service provider as thecustomer accesses gaming activities. Regardless, the alert/report fromthe listener application may include any one or more of the location ofthe device (or approximation thereof) (e.g., longitude and latitude),the distance the device has moved, the direction the device has moved,an indication that the device has moved a predefined amount, anindication that the device has changed location (but not how much), etc.According to some embodiments, the listener application, having beennotified by the gaming service provider, for example, of the boundariesof a geofence, may determine if the device is within the geofence, somedefined distance from the boundaries of the geofence, and/or has movedoutside the geofence, and report any of such events to the gamingservice provider.

According to some embodiment, a gaming service provider for example(without communicating with a communication service provider and/orthird party, for example) may respond to an alert/report from a listenerapplication by determining that the device is still within theboundaries of a geofence, is possibly moving towards and/or has movedtowards the boundaries of the geofence, and/or has moved beyond/outsidethe boundaries of the geofence and therefore may be in a location inwhich gaming activities, and/or any other features, are not permittedand/or are not to be provided and/or need to be modified/altered. Forexample, the gaming service provider may make such determinations byknowing the previous coordinates of the device (e.g., as provided by acommunication service provider and/or third party, for example) and thecoordinates of the device and/or the distance the device has moved asreported by the listener application. According to some embodiment, thegaming service provider for example, in response to making adetermination as to where the device may be located as a result of thereport from the listener application, may do nothing, may log thecustomer out of an account, may prevent and/or suspend further wageringfrom the device, may enable, disable, and/or modify features and/orservices and/or activities provided to the customer, may communicatewith the listener application to update when the listener applicationprovides reports, and/or may communicate with a communication serviceprovider and/or third party to re-determine the location of the devicethrough geofencing using methods discussed herein. For example, thegaming service provider may determine, in response to the report fromthe listener application, that the device is still within the boundariesof a geofence and do nothing. As another example, the gaming serviceprovider may determine, in response to the report from the listenerapplication that the device has possibly moved close to the boundariesof the geofence and may communicate with a communication serviceprovider and/or third party to re-determine the location of the devicethrough geofencing using methods discussed herein.

In some embodiments, a listener application may be one of a plurality oflocation determination triggers. For example, as a result of a reportedmovement by the listener application, a gaming service provider mayperform a location determination of a device (after some time periodfrom a prior location determination) in response to and at a time acustomer subsequently initiates wagering actions through the device.

In some embodiments, even though a reported new location by a listenerapplication may appear to a gaming service provider to be within ageofence, the gaming service provider may not trust the new location.For example, such listener application may have the potential forhacking because it may be operated on the customer's device.Accordingly, a report from such a listener application that movement hasoccurred may trigger some other location determination to be performed(e.g., a check of a geofence location).

One skilled in the art will recognize that registering a listenerapplication on a device to determine when a device may be moving towardsthe boundaries of a geofence and/or has moved beyond such boundaries maybe used for other features, services, activities, and applications, suchas those described herein, in addition to deciding if gaming activitiesshould be enable, disable and/or modified on a device.

According to some embodiment and as discussed herein, a gaming serviceprovider for example may also use concentric/consecutive geofences(including two or more concentric geofences) to minimize, for example,determinations and/or queries to a third party and/or communicationservice provider regarding locations of a device. Suchconcentric/consecutive geofences may be used, for example, to determinewhen a query of a location is to be made to a third party and/orcommunication service provider. As an example, an outer most geofencemay correspond to an actual boundary of an approved area in which gamingactivities are permitted. This geofence may include therein a secondgeofence, which may have included therein a third geofence, etc. Theconcentric/consecutive geofences may each be a circle, may each be apolygon (with one or more polygons being the same and/or a differentshape from the others), a combination thereof, etc. According to someembodiments, such a series of consecutive geofences, while one may liewithin another, etc, may not be concentric in that one or more of thegeofences may not share a common center point. Similarly, one or more ofthe geofences may or may not touch another geofence and/or may or maynot overlap another geofence. Similarly, a given geofence may havetherein two or more geofences that don't overlap at all. One skilled inthe art will recognize that other formations/configurations of geofencesmay be used.

According to some embodiments, the rate or time at which a gamingservice provider, for example, re-determines the location of a device(to ensure the device is still in a permitted location—for example isstill within the boundary of the outermost geofence) may be based uponwhich geofence the device was last in. For example, FIG. 11 shows astate 1101 (e.g., Nevada) for example, with three geofences therein,1102 a, 1102 b, and 1102 c, for example. The frequency of locationdetermination of a device may be one rate (e.g., every 5 minutes orapproximately every 5 minutes) when a device is within the outer mostgeofence 1102 a but outside geofences 1102 b and 1102 c (i.e., islocated in region 1103 a), may be a second rate (e.g., every 10 minutesor approximately every 10 minutes) when a device is within geofences1102 a and 1102 b but outside of geofence 1102 c (i.e., is located inregion 1103 b), and may be a third rate (e.g., every 30 minutes orapproximately every 30 minutes) when a device is within geofences 1102a, 1102 b, and 1102 (i.e., is located in region 1103 c), etc. Forexample, the rates may get longer as the device is located further fromthe outer most geofence or, in other words, is located within the moreinner geofences. One skilled in the art will recognize that other rateconfigurations are possible, including, seconds, minutes, and hours.Accordingly, a gaming service provider may use a communication serviceprovider and/or third party, as discussed herein, to determine whichgeofence a device is in. Based on which geofence the device is in, thegaming service provider may then determine the next time a determinationand/or query to a third party and/or communication service provider willbe made, with the rate being less frequent, for example, when a deviceis within an inner geofence.

According to some embodiments, a gaming service provider for example mayregister a listening application on a device in addition to usingmultiple concentric/consecutive geofences. As an example, a gamingservice provider may determination and/or query to a third party and/orcommunication service provider regarding a device's location attime/rate based on which geofence a device was last is located in.However, if the listening application reports a change in location asdiscussed herein, for example, the gaming service provider may reducethe time/rate at which the next location determination/query is made,including reducing the time to zero such that a location determinationis made immediately. According to some embodiments, the gaming serviceprovider may configure/reconfigure the listening application to reportlocation changes based on which of the geofences the device is locatedin. For example, the listener application may be configured to reportlocation changes of one length when a device is located in region 1103a, and may be configured to report location changes of a second lengthwhen a device is located in region 1103 b, where the one length isshorter than the second length. In other words, the listener applicationmay be configured to report shorter location changes the closer thedevice is to the outer most geofence. As another example, the listenerapplication may be configured to report location changes more frequently(regardless of the length of the movement) the closer the device is tothe outer most geofence.

In some embodiments, in addition to or as an alternative to rate ortime, some other functionality may depend upon which geofence adevice/customer is located in. For example, when a device is determinedto be located in an outer boundary geofence (e.g., region 1103 a), agaming service provider may use some second location determinationmethod to ensure a device is within a permitted location, while thegaming service provider may not use some second location determinationmethod when a device is determined to be located in an internal geofence(e.g., region 1103 b and/or 1103 c). As still another example,functionality of the customer device itself may be altered to preventsome actions from being performed or data from being accessed when inboundary geofences as compared to when in internal geofences (e.g., acustomer may not be able to wager is some game types, a customer may notbe able to play games for more than an amount of money, a customer maybe delayed in play games so that consecutive location determinations maytake place before a game action is accepted, a customer may not be ableto access more than a maximum amount of gaming data between locationdeterminations, etc.). As still another example, a customer may bewarned about leaving an approved area when in a boundary geofence.

Some embodiments may include a gaming service provider performing alocation determination of a customer device in response to a recognizedcached result being reported to the gaming service provider. Forexample, a communication service provider and/or third party and/orlocation reporting service may only refresh device locations every sooften (e.g., re-determine longitude and latitude coordinates of adevice). If a gaming service provider requests a location at a quickerrate than the location reporting service updates its locationinformation, the gaming service provider may be provided with out ofdate cached location information. If a gaming service providerrecognizes that two consecutive location reports are identical, thegaming service provider may suspect that a cached result has been used.If a device is located in a boundary geofence (e.g., region 1103 a),this may cause the gaming service provider to behave differently thanwhen a device is located in an internal geofence (e.g., region 1103 band/or 1103 c) (e.g., because the gaming service provider may beconcerned that a customer has left the boundary to a non-permittedgaming location between updates but would not be so concerned about theinternal geofence). So, such determination of cached results, may, insome embodiments, only be relevant to a boundary geofence. Suchsuspicion of a cached result may be increased if a listener applicationhas reported that movement has occurred. In some embodiments adetermination of a cached result may depend on the listener applicationreporting such movement. In response to a determination of a relevantcached result being reported, the gaming service provider may determinelocation in some other manner using a secondary location determination,re-request location from the same location reporting service, requestthat the location reporting service specifically refresh thecustomer's/device's location information, and/or perform any otheraction (e.g., prevent gaming until a non-cached result is reported).

As discussed herein, actions performed by a gaming service provider,communication service provider, third party, location reporting service,and/or device, etc. may include actions performed by an entity/personand/or actions performed electronically by one or more computers,computing devices, servers, processors, etc. performing/executingsoftware, firmware, etc. over one or more communication networks.

Soft Tag Examples

In some embodiments, in addition to and/or as an alternative togeofencing and/or other location determination methodologies, a softtagsystem may be used. Such a system may be used to determine whether adevice is in an approved and/or an unapproved location for gaming. Insome embodiments, such a system may be provided by Ekahau to determineapproved and/or unapproved (e.g., red/green) zones.

In some embodiments, such a softtag may include a gaming positioningclient software. Such software may be used, e.g., by a server,workstation, network, mobile device and/or processor, to facilitatedetermining information about a location or position of a mobile device.In some embodiments, such software may be used to identify a location ofa user of a mobile and/or handheld device (e.g., a moveable processor,such as a handheld computer, mobile phone or smartphone, laptop, otherportable electronic device, etc.). For example, software running on amobile device may cause the device to transmit or otherwise provideinformation (e.g., to a server or other processor, a unique identifier,a set of signal strengths, etc.) that can be used to determine theposition of the client mobile device.

In some embodiments, a gaming application (e.g., a main application, awrapper application, a softtag application, etc.) may perform one ormore actions to facilitate such features. For example, such anapplication may be assigned a unique identifier (e.g., as part of a signup process). As another example, such an application may be providedwith a list of allowed access points and/or a reference to where such alist may be obtained (e.g., from a gaming service). In some embodiments,such a gaming application may determine one or more signal strengthsform one or more wireless access points and/or one or more access pointidentifiers that may be accessed from a current location.). In someembodiments, an application may determine a network to which the mobiledevice is accessing a gaming service (e.g., a wifi network at a casino,a wifi network at a Starbucks in Las Vegas, and so on).

In some embodiments, one or more identifiers and/or signal strengths maybe transmitted to a gaming service and/or other location (e.g., with arequest to gamble). In some embodiments, an identifier of such a networkmay be used to determine that the network is approved. For example, thenetwork identifier may be compared with a listing of allowed networks(e.g., by a gaming service, by a mobile device, by the application). Ifthe network is in the list, then the network may be in an approvedlocation and gaming may be allowed. In some embodiments, a request to agaming service may include an identification of the network so that sucha determination may be made by the gaming service. In some embodiments,a set of signal strengths and/or access point identifiers may be used todetermine if a location is approved. For example, a set of signalstrengths and/or access points may be compared to a set of approvedsignal strengths and/or access points. Some example embodiments of suchcomparisons are described in U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/197,809, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference.

Some embodiments may include determining that a network is in an allowedlocation and/or identifying allowed signal strengths and/or accesspoints. For example, some embodiments may include an agent identifyingthat a network, access points, and/or signal strengths are in a allowedlocation to a gaming service (e.g., an agent may observe a boundary of anetwork and determine that the network is within a boundary of anallowed location, the agent may send a message to a gaming serviceidentifying that communication network and that it is in an allowedlocation, the agent may determine that signal strengths and/or accesspoints at various locations are valid and/or invalid based on thelocation compared to legal requirements). In response to receiving suchinformation, a gaming service may associate the communication network,signal strengths, and/or access points with being in an allowedlocation.

Such an application may run on any supported operating system orsystems. Such operating systems may include any operating systems forcomputers, servers, handheld devices, and/or other devices. Suchsupported operating systems may include Windows operating systems suchas Mobile 5 PocketPC, Windows Mobile 6 Classic, Windows Mobile 6Professional, Windows 8, various versions of Android, Mac operatingsystems, Linux, and other systems.

In some embodiments, the software may be capable of accomplishingvarious functions and have various features, including (but not limitedto) one or more (or all) of the following, e.g., in some embodiments:support client maintenance, e.g., from a Positioning Engine (e.g., aposition engine provided by the company Ekahau); adjust scan settings,e.g., for multiple devices, e.g., at the same time (or at multipledifferent times); display battery level status (e.g., from EkahauEngine); does not require Ekahau Client Connector; Supports Ekahau RTLS4.x Location and Maintenance Protocols (ELP, EMP); includes a new userinterface in the PPC Client: PPC Client settings are maintained usingEkahau Positioning Engine; Laptop Client may not have a UI: settings areset in the installer or settings are maintained using Ekahau PositioningEngine; and/or may or may not affect association/authentication.

Various examples of determining a time period for rechecking a locationare given elsewhere with respect to a geofencing and/or multilevellocation determination methodologies embodiments. Such feature may applyto a softtagging or other embodiment. For example, particular networks,access point and/or signal strength sets may be associated withdifferent time periods between location checks based on a distance forman edge of a boundary of an approved area, a state, a reliability, andso on. Similarly, speed of movement may be used to determine such timeperiods in some embodiments.

It should be recognized that various examples of softtagging are givenas non-limiting examples only and that other methods and/or apparatusmay be used as desired. Any desire location services may be used incombination and/or exclusively. For examiner, some embodiments mayinclude determining that a device is both using an approved network andin a geofence.

Limiting Remote Control of Mobile Device Examples

In some embodiments, an ability to remotely access a device may becontrolled. Such an ability may be restricted, prevented, and/or notavailable, for example. In some embodiments, one or more methods and/ordevices may be used to prevent remote connections to a mobile devicewhile a customer is performing gaming related activities using themobile device and/or if the mobile device is authorized to performgaming activities.

Some example mobile devices may include any number of communicationinterfaces (e.g., 4) that may be controlled to prevent remove access ofthe mobile device. It should be recognized that some embodiment mayinclude more, fewer, different such interfaces and that the exampleinterfaces are given as non-limiting examples only. Such exampleinterfaces may include 1. Wi-Fi, 2. Dock/USB, 3. Blue tooth, 4. CellularNetwork (may not support incoming connections).

In some embodiments, incoming remote connections to a mobile device maybe disabled, may not be possible and/or my otherwise may be preventedover a cellular network connection. In some embodiments, one or morecommunication interfaces may be disabled at a time relative to when aplayer performs wagering related activities (e.g. places a wager). Insome embodiments, such disabling may include preventing a customer fromremotely controlling a phone so that the customer may be at the locationof the phone when the wagering activity takes place. In someembodiments, if while in the sports betting application, the customerenables a disabled communication interface, and/or a remote connectionis made through such an interface, in response to determining that suchan enabling occurs and/or such a connection being made, a customer'ssports betting session may be terminated and/or disabled (e.g., with awarning message, without a warning message, a sports wageringapplication may be terminated, a communication session may beterminated, a gaming service may be notified, and so on).

In some embodiments, a mobile gaming application may make check todetermine whether a communication interface is enabled and/or whether acommunication session through such an interface is active. For example,an application may occasionally, in response to an action, periodically,and so on check if a communication interface is enabled and/or if acommunication session is active. Such a checking may be made by callingone or more APIs. For example, an Android OS API may be used withUiModeManager, WifiMaanger and BlueToothAdapter classes.

In some embodiments, a wagering application on a client device mayinclude one or more programs. A first application may include, forexample, an AIR 2.5 application built on Android 2.2 platform usingFlash AS3. A second application may include, for example an Androidwrapper application that launches and monitors the current devicestatus. In some embodiments, a customer facing application may include alauncher that may launch the AIR 2.5 application after checking thestatus of remote connection access points such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth anddock. The application may be launched if all external connection methodsare disabled. Once successfully launched, if the customer enables one ormore of these access points, the application may terminate. If thecompliance validator service terminates and cannot provide status to theapplication, the application may terminate.

Some embodiments may prevent a user from making and/or accepting phonecalls. For example, an application may be closed if a phone call is madeand/or received during a gaming session and/or while a gamingapplication is being executed. In some embodiments, a user may beprevented from changing a focus, running multiple applications, runningother applications, and so on while a gaming application is executed. Itshould be recognized that any desired set of actions may be made toprevent remote access as desired.

It should be recognized that various examples of application arenon-limiting and that other embodiments may include a singleapplication, any number of applications, no applications, any language,any technology, any devices, any operating systems, and so on.

Further Example Components

Some embodiments may include one or more actors, programs, devices,servers, components, entities, architectures, and so on. Some examplesmay include:

A customer and/or mobile device user, a customer service agentassociated with a gaming operator that may be located at a gamingrelated property, a customer service help desk that may be accessiblevia a toll-free number for assistance to mobile customers (e.g., helpdesk information may be displayed to customer whenever any validationfails), an Android Wrapper Application (e.g., an application written inthe Android OS language and/or other language used to authenticatedevice and monitor phone status), an AIR Mobile gaming Client (e.g., aNGCB approved Adobe Flash application installed on the phone that may bethe current user interface to allow customers to sign-in, play mobilegaming, and view account history), a Device Authenticator Service (e.g.,an SSL secured service that provides the mechanism for the AndroidWrapper application to authorize the phone, a provider of an internal(i.e. only accessible inside the firewall) interface to validaterequests made to systems from approved devices), a gateway (e.g., an SSLsecured NGCB approved middleware communication service that proxiesrequests to DAS and the account based mobile gaming system), a Win32Wrapper Application (e.g., an Application written in the Win32 languageused to authenticate device and monitor PC status. It should berecognized that Win32 language and PCs are given as non-limitingexamples only and that that any technology may be used as desired. Insome embodiments, a mobile device may include a data adapter, a mobilephone, a smart phone, a laptop, a pda, and so on.

FIG. 8 illustrate example architectures that may be used in someembodiments. Some embodiments may include a mobile device as indicated.Such a device may communicate with a gaming service (e.g., a gateway).Such a device may be used by a customer to enter gaming actions, selectgames to play, choose decisions in a game, log into an account, and soon. Some embodiment may include such a gateway and/or any desiredcomponents of a gaming service and/or third party services that may bein communication with a mobile device. Such a component may perform anydesired actions (e.g., authentication, location, and so on). Someembodiments may include a location service. Such a location service mayprovide any desired actions related to determining if a mobile device isin an approved location. Such a location service may communicate with amobile device and/or gaming service. Such a location service may includea communication provider for the mobile device, a gaming service itself,a third party, and so on. Some embodiments may include a gamingcomponent. Such a gaming component may be used to place bets, determinewager results, track accounts, and so on. Such a wager component may bepart of a gaming service provider. Such a gaming component may receivewagers, determine wager results, receive actions to take in a game,facilitate play of a game, transmit indications of a result of anaction, facilitate adjustments to an account in response to suchresults, and so on.

The figures illustrate that some actions may be performed by somedevices. It should be recognized that any desired actions may beperformed by any devices in other embodiments. It should be recognizedthat any desired computing devices in any combination may be used inother embodiments.

Some embodiments may use MD5 hashing and/or any desired encoding schemeto encode information, such as system parameters. Information about MD5hashing may be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MD5. MD5 mayinclude a message digest algorithm for encoding data. MD5 may help toensure that 1) Once encoded, the data cannot be retrieved via forms ofdecoding (i.e. the original data is lost) 2) MD5 Hashing two differentpieces of data (even if they're quite similar) produces differentresults and/or 3) MD5 Hashing identical data will produce the sameresult.

Some embodiments may use an SSL HTTPS protocol to facilitate securecommunication between entities. In some embodiments, communicationbetween client devices and DAS, gateway, and/or a component of a gamingservice may be performed using via the SSL HTTPS protocol. This mayensure data integrity and/or security. Information about the HTTPSprotocol may be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Https.

Some embodiments, such as those that may use an Android OS, may useprivate key signing to secure applications. For example, the OS mayensure: 1) two applications signed with different private keys cannotwrite to the data store of the other and/or 2) two applications signedwith the same private key can write to the data store of the other.Information about such security may be found athttp://developer.android.com/guide/topics/security/security.html.

Some embodiments, such as those that us Win32, may use process ids tosecure applications. For example, a Win32 wrapper application mayensure: 1) two applications are running under the same user id and/or 2)Two applications are the only two processes running under the same userid.

Such examples are given as non-limiting only. It should be recognizedthat various embodiments may include any desired actors, programs,devices, servers, components, entities, architectures, and so on in anydesired combination.

Examples of Gaming Rules

Some embodiments may operate in compliance with one or more rules. Itshould be recognized that any rules and/or no rules may be used asdesired. Any number of mechanisms, punishments, validations, and so onmay be used to ensure that any one or more of the rules are followed.Some examples rules may include:

1. Wagers are accepted within the approved locations within the state ofNevada per Regulation 22.140 and Regulation 266.160. Nevada lawprohibits wagers originating from outside the State of Nevada so suchwagers may not be permitted. Accountholders may understand that it isillegal to place a wager originating outside the State of Nevada.

2. Applications for wagering may be made in person at a race and/orsports book. Applicants may complete the approved account based wageringapplication and provide acceptable valid proof of identification, and/orsocial security number, per Regulation 22 and 26c.

3. Account applicants may be twenty-one (21) years or older.

4. Account transactions may be made by the account holder. Accounts maybe limited to the use of the individual named on the application.Account deposits and withdrawals may be made in person. Agents or otherrepresentatives may not be permitted.

5. A minimum $100.00 deposit may be made to open an account. Deposits tothe accounts may be made in cash. Wire transfers may be made to apatron's account in accordance with Nevada Gaming regulations.

6. Account deposits and withdrawals may be signed and authorized by theguest at the race and sports book during normal business hours. Noagents or representatives may be allowed.

7. Account withdrawals and subsequent deposits may be made at thelocation where the funds were initially placed on deposit.

8. Account patrons may be required to provide their account number andacceptable valid identification when conducting account transactions inperson.

9. Wagers may not be accepted if they exceed the account balance.

10. Wagers may be subject to established wagering limits.

11. Rules, upon regulatory review, may be subject to change at any time.

12. Minimum deposit may include $100, and minimum wager may include $5.

13. Any desired house rules and/or regulations may apply to wageringaccounts.

14. Patrons may be provided, within a reasonable amount of time, astatement of their account showing wagering account deposits, wageringaccount withdrawals, credits to a wagering account, and/or debits to thewagering account made during the time period reported by the accountstatement. The request for such information may be done in writing andbe signed by the patron whose signature on the request will be verified.Within the request, the patron may furnish details on the dispensing ofthe requested information. All postal mailing may be done via regularmail to the address requested by the patron. If the request by thepatron is to personally receive the information, the information may begiven to the patron, who may provide valid identification when receivingthe information. The information may not be personally released toanyone but the patron who holds the account unless required by law orcourt order.

15. Patrons may dispute any transaction according to Nevada GamingCommission Regulation 7A.

16. Casinos may make a print, electronic or other approved record ofeach sports transaction and may not accept any such wager or transactionif the recording system is inoperable. Recorded wagering transactionsmay be maintained for 60 days, per Regulation 22 and 26c. The record ofthe patron's confirmation of all wagering information may be deemed tobe the transaction of record, regardless of what was recorded by thecomputerized bookmaking or pari-mutuel system. The records may be madeavailable to the Nevada Gaming Control Board upon request.

17. Guests may acknowledge that a wager placed using the system isbinding on both parties only when the BET IS APPROVED on the system orthe message “BET HAS BEEN ACCEPTED” is displayed.

Multiple Accounts Examples

Some embodiments may include a plurality of accounts related to aplurality of respective casinos and\or other venues. In someembodiments, each such account may allow for gaming at a particularcasino, sports book, and so on. In some embodiments, for example, a usermay have a respective monetary account for casino gaming associated witheach of a plurality of gaming operators (e.g., casinos, sports books,mobile gaming providers, internet wagering sites) and a respectivemonetary account for sports betting associated with one or more of theplurality of gaming operators (e.g., casinos, sports books, mobilegaming providers, internet wagering sites). A gaming provider mayoperate such accounts and/or allow gaming related to such accounts.

Some embodiments may include preventing funds in one gaming account frombeing used within a casino or at a location not associated with thatgaming account. Some embodiments may include preventing funds in onegaming account from being used to game and/or perform activities (e.g.,making purchases, play casinos games, play sports games) that are notapproved for the account. A location determination may be made as may bedescribed herein to determine such functionality.

Some embodiments may include a feature that allows fund transferringfrom one gaming account to another gaming account. Such funds may betransferred between accounts associated with a same gaming operatorand/or between accounts associated with different gaming operators.

In some embodiments, a transfer may include an adjustment to anelectronic record that identifies an amount of money in an account. Forexample, a single gaming operator may reduce one account and mayincrease another account a same amount (e.g., intra property transferbetween casino wagering and sport betting accounts). In someembodiments, multiple parties may be involved in a transfer. Forexample, a first gaming operator may reduce an account and a secondgaming operator may increase an account by a same amount. In someembodiments, an intermediary (e.g., a mobile gaming operator or accountoperator) may provide accounting services on behalf on the one or moreentities (e.g., may maintain accounts for multiple entities and so maymake the adjustments on their behalf).

In some embodiments, such an account transfer feature may allow a userto grant permission for a transfer of an amount of money from oneaccount. Some amount of money that is permissioned (or less) may bemoved to another account. Accordingly, such money may be used from theother account to take gaming actions and/or perform activities even ifthe money may not be used from the account to place take the gamingaction and/or perform the same activities.

In some embodiments, a first account that is related to a first gamingprovider may be established. For example, a first account may be relatedto a first casino (e.g., The M Resort) or first gaming service provider(e.g., mobile gaming provider such as Cantor Gaming). Such an accountmay be established by the first gaming provider, a user, and/or afinancial institution (e.g., by signing up for an account and/or placingmoney in an account). A user may place money in and/or take money fromsuch an account. Such an account may be used to take gaming actions inone or more games with money placed in the account. Such an account maybe used to place play games at the casino or first gaming providerand/or otherwise through the first gaming provider (e.g., using an appprovided by the first gaming provider, when the first gaming providertakes gaming actions). In some embodiments, such an account may beassociated with one or more activities (e.g., sports gaming and/orcasino gaming). In some embodiments multiple accounts associated withdifferent activities may be established in relation to the first gamingprovider (e.g., one for sports gaming and one for casino gaming).

In some embodiments, a second account that is related to a second gamingprovider may be established. For example, a second account may berelated to a second casino (e.g., The Hard Rock Casino) or second gamingservice provider (e.g., mobile gaming provider such as The VenetianPocket Casino Service). Such an account may be established by the secondgaming provider, a user, and/or a financial institution (e.g., bysigning up for an account and/or placing money in an account). A usermay place money in and/or take money from such an account. Such anaccount may be used to take gaming actions in one or more games withmoney placed in the account. Such an account may be used to play gamesat the second gaming provider and/or otherwise through the second gamingprovider (e.g., using an app provided by the second gaming provider,when the second gaming provider takes gaming actions). In someembodiments, such an account may be associated with one or moreactivities (e.g., casino gaming and/or sports gaming). In someembodiments multiple accounts associated with different activities maybe established in relation to the second gaming provider (e.g., one forsports gaming and one for casino gaming).

In some embodiments, a third account that is related to a first activitymay be established. For example, a third account may be related to playcasino games (e.g., slots, blackjack, poker). Such an account may beestablished by a gaming provider, a user, and/or financial institution(e.g., by signing up for an account and/or placing money in an account).A user may place money in and/or take money from such an account. Suchan account may be used to take gaming actions in one or more casinogames with money placed in the account. Such an account may be limitedto the first activity and/or may be excluded from being used for somesecond activity (e.g., sports and/or race gaming). In some embodiments,such an account may be associated with one or more gaming providers.

In some embodiments, a fourth account that is related to a secondactivity (e.g., a second activity that the third account maybe excludedfrom being used for) may be established. Such an account may beestablished by a gaming provider, a user, and/or financial institution(e.g., by signing up for an account and/or placing money in an account).A user may place money in and/or take money from such an account. Suchan account may be used to place take gaming actions in one or moresports, racing, and/or other events with money placed in the account.Such an account may be limited to the second activity and/or may beexcluded from being used for some first activity (e.g., casino gaming).In some embodiments, such an account may be associated with one or moregaming providers (e.g., a same and/or different gaming provider as thethird account).

In some embodiments, establishing an account may include receivinginformation by a gaming operator from a user, receiving money from auser, verifying information about the user, storing money in an account,storing information in a database, and so on. For example, in someembodiments, a user may provide identifying information to a gamingprovider (e.g., name, age, address, social security number, driver'slicense number, etc.) to establish an account. The gaming provider maystore such information in a database. The gaming provider may verify oneor more portions of the information (e.g., by asking for a photo ID toverify age). Information establishing such verification may be stored ina database (e.g., a copy of an ID). Login information may be establishedfor an account. In some embodiments, such information may be establishedin person at a gaming operator, through the Internet, through fax, overthe phone, and so on as desired. In some embodiments, money may beplaced in the account. For example, physical cash may be handed to agaming operator and in response a database entry may be adjusted to showthat the money is in the account. In some embodiments, electronictransfers into the account may be made (e.g., from another account) anda database entry may be made to identify that transfer.

In some embodiments, a single intermediary may maintain informationrelated to multiple accounts related to multiple gaming operators (e.g.,a mobile gaming provider may operate at multiple casinos and maintainaccounts related to each casino). In some embodiments, such anintermediary may maintain a customer database in which accountinformation for such multiple accounts may be stored. Some embodimentsmay include maintaining account consistency in such a database. Forexample, if a player changes their name or address associated with oneaccount, such changes may be propagated through the customer database toaffect all account. In some embodiments, the change may not affect otheraccount. In some embodiments, the player may be given an option througha user interface to have the change propagated to other accounts (e.g.,to choose which account to affect).

In some embodiments, when a player establishes a new account, the newaccount may be linked in the customer database with other accountsestablished by the player. Such establishment and/or linking may be partof a sign up process. For example, a database may be searched foridentifiers entered by the player upon establishing the account to findif the player has already registered an account (e.g. the player may beasked for login information from a prior account establishment, socialsecurity numbers, driver's license number, other unique identifiers maybe searched for). If a match to a player establishing a new account isfound in a customer database, the new account may be associated inresponse with the previous customer entry and all accounts that havepreviously been associated with that customer. Such association may easea process maintaining an orderly customer profile, accounting for acustomer, transferring money among customer accounts, monitoring forfraud (e.g., monitoring for multiple account usage simultaneously andtaking anti-fraud action in response), and so on.

Some embodiments may relate to gaming at casinos and/or in legal gamingjurisdictions. Such gaming may be performed using money in one or moreestablished account. Databases may be adjusted in response to riskedmoney, lost money, won money, transferred money, and so on. In someembodiments gaming jurisdictions and/or providers may require and/ordesire to keep some money segregated from other money. Such treatment ofmoney may improve accountability, tracking, assurance of creditworthiness, monitoring of activity, age verification, identityconfirmation, and so on. For example, in some embodiments, each gamingprovider (e.g., house, casino, mobile gaming provider) may require itsown account (e.g., an account setup for wagering with each provider) tobe setup to place wagers through the provider. As another example,racing and/or sports accounts may be required to be separate from casinogaming accounts. For example, a gaming provider that offers bothsports/racing and casino gaming may require a user to establish both asports/racing account and a casino account it that user desires to placeaccount based gaming on both sports/racing and casino games through thegaming provider. In some embodiments, a separate account maybe requiredfor shopping and/or otherwise spending money. For example, gamingaccounts may be prevented from being used to spend money to buyproducts. In some embodiments, a single account may be used for morethan one activity, through more than one gaming provider and/or at morethan one location.

It should be recognized that any combination of location, gamingprovider, intermediary, activity, and/or other characteristics beingassociated with wagering and/or non-wagering accounts may be used invarious embodiments as desired. Various examples of embodiments aregiven as non-limiting examples that may be combined together in anymanner as desired. For example, some embodiments may include threeseparate accounts being associated with three respective activities foreach of four separate locations. In some embodiments, as an example ofsome account types and/or associations, one account may be associatedwith sports gaming casino A, another account maybe associated withplaying casino games at casino B, a third account may be associated withshopping at store C, and a fourth account may be associated withinvesting at financial institute D.

Some embodiments may include facilitating a transfer of money from oneaccount (e.g., first account, third account) to another account (e.g.,second account, fourth account). Such money may include money that wasdeposited in an account, money that was transferred into an account,money that was won through wagering activities, and so on. In someembodiments, an account to which money may be transferred may include anaccount associated with a gaming provider that the user is participatingwith (e.g., a casino in which a user is located) at a time relative tothe transfer and/or an account from which money may be withdrawn mayinclude a gaming provider that the user is not participating with (e.g.,a casino in which the user is not located) at the time relative to thetransfer.

In some embodiments, facilitating a transfer may include withdrawingmoney from one account and depositing the money into another account.Some embodiments may include taking a fee for such a service (e.g., foreach transaction, a sign up fee, etc.). In some embodiments, such atransfer may be facilitated by making one or more database changes. Insome embodiments, accounting, auditing, and/or reporting may beperformed regarding one or more transfers as desired by a regulatorybody.

In some embodiments, facilitating may include pre-permissioning atransfer, requiring a transfer to be pre-permissioning, transferring apre-permissioned amount of money, allow a user to pre-permissioning atransfer from an account, and so on. In some embodiments, facilitatingmay include automatically making a transfer, making a transfer from oneaccount to another account in response to a wager being placed form theone account, transferring money to fulfill a wager, and so on.

Other Embodiments

It will be understood that the technologies described herein for making,using, or practicing various embodiments are but a subset of thepossible technologies that may be used for the same or similar purposes.The particular technologies described herein are not to be construed aslimiting. Rather, various embodiments contemplate alternate technologiesfor making, using, or practicing various embodiments.

Modifications, additions, or omissions may be made to the method withoutdeparting from the scope of the invention. The method may include more,fewer, or other steps. Additionally, steps may be performed in anysuitable order without departing from the scope of the invention.

While this disclosure has been described in terms of certain embodimentsand generally associated methods, alterations and permutations of theembodiments and methods will be apparent to those skilled in the art.Accordingly, the above description of example embodiments does notconstrain this disclosure. Other changes, substitutions, and alterationsare also possible without departing from the spirit and scope of thisdisclosure, as defined by the claims herein.

Example Combined Embodiments

It should be recognized that some embodiments may combine variousaspects. For example, a gaming server may allow a variety of clients toengage in gaming. The variety of clients may run different operatingsystems (e.g., iPhones, android devices, laptops, etc.), have differentcapabilities (e.g., gps), and/or may access the gaming service throughdifferent means (e.g., Wi-Fi, mobile network, Ethernet). A gamingservice and/or gaming client on a client device may take appropriateactions to ensure security based on such considerations. Such actionsmay combine one or more methods discussed herein that are available fora particular client device.

For example, an android phone using a mobile network to access a gamingservice may run a client program that interacts with the device and thegaming service. The client software may perform hash checking of atleast a portion of the client program and/or operating system ortransmit such information to a gaming service for checking. The clientsoftware may obtain a phone number of the phone by querying the androidOS and transmit that number to the gaming services. The client softwareand/or gaming service may alter routing tables to route traffic througha VPN established between the laptop and gaming service. A VM and/orproxy check may be performed by the client software and any desiredaccess methods may be disabled (e.g., Bluetooth, Wi-Fi) by the clientsoftware. The client software may obtain login credentials from a user(e.g., login, password, swipe pattern) and transmit that information toa gaming server for validation or validate one or more pieces of itlocally. A gaming service may verify obtained login information and usethe phone number to check a location of the phone through a geofencinglocation check, for example.

As another example, an iOS phone using a mobile network to access agaming service may run a client program that interacts with the deviceand the gaming service. The client software may perform hash checking ofat least a portion of the client program and/or operating system ortransmit such information to a gaming service for verification. Theclient software or gaming service may obtain a phone number from theuser upon signup or login. The client software and/or gaming service mayalter routing tables to route traffic through a VPN established betweenthe laptop and gaming service. A VM and/or proxy check may be performedby the client software and any desired access methods may be disabled(e.g., Bluetooth, Wi-Fi) by the client software. The phone number may betransmitted to the gaming service during login or as part of a sign upprocess. The client software may obtain login credentials from a user(e.g., login, password, swipe pattern) and transmit that information toa gaming server for validation or validate one or more pieces of itlocally. A gaming service may verify obtained login information and usethe phone number to check a location of the phone through a geofencinglocation check, for example. A client software may also check a gpscoordinates of the phone and transmit such coordinates to the gamingservice. The gaming service may use the gps coordinates as a check thatthe device phone number is the real phone number by verifying that thegeofencing service location check matches the gps location report.

An yet another example, a windows laptop using a Wi-Fi network to accessa gaming service may run a client program that interacts with the deviceand the gaming service. The client software may perform hash checking ofat least a portion of the client program and/or operating system ortransmit such information to a gaming service for verification. An IPaddress of the laptop may be determined by the client device andtransmitted to the gaming service and/or determined by the gamingservice from packets received by the gaming service. The client softwareand/or gaming service may alter routing tables to route traffic througha VPN established between the laptop and gaming service. A VM and/orproxy check may be performed by the client software and any desiredaccess methods may be disabled (e.g., Bluetooth) by the client software.The client software may obtain login credentials from a user (e.g.,login, password, swipe pattern) and transmit that information to agaming server for validation or validate one or more pieces of itlocally. A gaming service may verify obtained login information and usethe IP address to check a location of the laptop through an IP locationchecking service.

Cloud Service Examples

One or more functions described herein may be available as a cloudservice. For example, a gaming operator may be a cloud service provider,a location service may be a cloud service provider, a authenticationservice may be a cloud service provider, a account manager may be acloud service provider, a branding service may be a cloud serviceprovider, and so on. Various cloud service providers may interact withone another through a network to provide a coherent set of services to auser. Individual services may be used for multiple purposes. Forexample, a authentication cloud service may authenticate any device forany gaming operator, an account manager may provide account services forany account user, a gaming service provider may provide gaming servicesfor any cloud participant.

A cloud may be accessed through some access point. For example, a casinomay provide a portal to access a cloud (e.g., a kiosk, a mobileapplication on a phone, etc.). services that are available to the cloudmay be provided by cloud service providers that are connected to thecloud.

An account may be maintained elsewhere in such a cloud and/or may bemaintained specifically for a gaming operator. Accordingly, a useraccessing the cloud may use funds from an account provider in the cloudwith a gaming operator in the cloud. A gaming operator in the cloud mayuse authentication and/or location services of a authentication and/orlocation service provider in the cloud. Funds in the account providerfor example may be funds associated with a portal through which the useraccesses the cloud (e.g., a casino) that may make the funds available toa plurality of gaming services that are attached to the cloud. In someembodiments a gaming operator may be limited to using services that itprovides (e.g., its own account services and/or its own authenticationservices). Some embodiments may include one or more components of such acloud service that may operate to provide gaming functionality and/orprovide services to an entity that provides gaming services.

The following sections provide a guide to interpreting the presentapplication.

Terms

The terms “an embodiment”, “embodiment”, “embodiments”, “theembodiment”, “the embodiments”, “one or more embodiments”, “someembodiments”, “certain embodiments”, “one embodiment”, “anotherembodiment” and the like mean “one or more (but not all) embodiments ofthe disclosed invention(s)”, unless expressly specified otherwise.

A reference to “another embodiment” in describing an embodiment does notimply that the referenced embodiment is mutually exclusive with anotherembodiment (e.g., an embodiment described before the referencedembodiment), unless expressly specified otherwise.

The terms “including”, “comprising” and variations thereof mean“including but not necessarily limited to”, unless expressly specifiedotherwise. Thus, for example, the sentence “the portfolio includes a redwidget and a blue widget” means the portfolio includes the red widgetand the blue widget, but may include something else.

The terms “a”, “an” and “the” mean “one or more”, unless expresslyspecified otherwise.

The phrase “based on” does not mean “based only on”, unless expresslyspecified otherwise. In other words, the phrase “based on” describesboth “based only on” and “based at least on”. The phrase “based at leaston” is equivalent to the phrase “based at least in part on”.

The term “respective” and like terms mean “taken individually”. Thus iftwo or more things have “respective” characteristics, then each suchthing has its own characteristic, and these characteristics can bedifferent from each other but need not be. For example, the phrase “eachof two machines has a respective function” means that the first suchmachine has a function and the second such machine has a function aswell. The function of the first machine may or may not be the same asthe function of the second machine.

The term “determining” and grammatical variants thereof (e.g., todetermine a price, determining a value, determine an object which meetsa certain criterion) is used in an extremely broad sense. The term“determining” encompasses a wide variety of actions and therefore“determining” can include calculating, computing, processing, deriving,investigating, looking up (e.g., looking up in a table, a database oranother data structure), ascertaining and the like. Also, “determining”can include receiving (e.g., receiving information), accessing (e.g.,accessing data in a memory) and the like. Also, “determining” caninclude resolving, selecting, choosing, establishing, and the like.

The term “determining” does not imply certainty or absolute precision,and therefore “determining” can include estimating, extrapolating,predicting, guessing and the like.

The term “determining” does not imply that mathematical processing mustbe performed, and does not imply that numerical methods must be used,and does not imply that an algorithm or process is used.

The term “determining” does not imply that any particular device must beused. For example, a computer need not necessarily perform thedetermining.

When an ordinal number (such as “first”, “second”, “third” and so on) isused as an adjective before a term, that ordinal number is used (unlessexpressly specified otherwise) merely to indicate a particular feature,such as to distinguish that particular feature from another feature thatis described by the same term or by a similar term. For example, a“first widget” may be so named merely to distinguish it from, e.g., a“second widget”. Thus, the mere usage of the ordinal numbers “first” and“second” before the term “widget” does not indicate any otherrelationship between the two widgets, and likewise does not indicate anyother characteristics of either or both widgets. For example, the mereusage of the ordinal numbers “first” and “second” before the term“widget” (1) does not indicate that either widget comes before or afterany other in order or location; (2) does not indicate that either widgetoccurs or acts before or after any other in time; and (3) does notindicate that either widget ranks above or below any other, as inimportance or quality. In addition, the mere usage of ordinal numbersdoes not define a numerical limit to the features identified with theordinal numbers. For example, the mere usage of the ordinal numbers“first” and “second” before the term “widget” does not indicate thatthere must be no more than two widgets.

When a single device, article or other product is described herein, morethan one device/article (whether or not they cooperate) mayalternatively be used in place of the single device/article that isdescribed. Accordingly, the functionality that is described as beingpossessed by a device may alternatively be possessed by more than onedevice/article (whether or not they cooperate).

Similarly, where more than one device, article or other product isdescribed herein (whether or not they cooperate), a singledevice/article may alternatively be used in place of the more than onedevice or article that is described. For example, a plurality ofcomputer-based devices may be substituted with a single computer-baseddevice. Accordingly, the various functionality that is described asbeing possessed by more than one device or article may alternatively bepossessed by a single device/article.

The functionality and/or the features of a single device that isdescribed may be alternatively embodied by one or more other deviceswhich are described but are not explicitly described as having suchfunctionality/features. Thus, other embodiments need not include thedescribed device itself, but rather can include the one or more otherdevices which would, in those other embodiments, have suchfunctionality/features.

Although process steps, algorithms or the like may be described orclaimed in a particular sequential order, such processes may beconfigured to work in different orders. In other words, any sequence ororder of steps that may be explicitly described or claimed does notnecessarily indicate a requirement that the steps be performed in thatorder. The steps of processes described herein may be performed in anyorder possible. Further, some steps may be performed simultaneouslydespite being described or implied as occurring non-simultaneously(e.g., because one step is described after the other step). Moreover,the illustration of a process by its depiction in a drawing does notimply that the illustrated process is exclusive of other variations andmodifications thereto, does not imply that the illustrated process orany of its steps are necessary to the invention(s), and does not implythat the illustrated process is preferred.

Although a process may be described as including a plurality of steps,that does not imply that all or any of the steps are preferred,essential or required. Various other embodiments within the scope of thedescribed invention(s) include other processes that omit some or all ofthe described steps. Unless otherwise specified explicitly, no step isessential or required.

Although a process may be described singly or without reference to otherproducts or methods, in an embodiment the process may interact withother products or methods. For example, such interaction may includelinking one business model to another business model. Such interactionmay be provided to enhance the flexibility or desirability of theprocess.

Although a product may be described as including a plurality ofcomponents, aspects, qualities, characteristics and/or features, thatdoes not indicate that any or all of the plurality are preferred,essential or required. Various other embodiments within the scope of thedescribed invention(s) include other products that omit some or all ofthe described plurality.

An enumerated list of items (which may or may not be numbered) does notimply that any or all of the items are mutually exclusive, unlessexpressly specified otherwise. Likewise, an enumerated list of items(which may or may not be numbered) does not imply that any or all of theitems are comprehensive of any category, unless expressly specifiedotherwise. For example, the enumerated list “a computer, a laptop, aPDA” does not imply that any or all of the three items of that list aremutually exclusive and does not imply that any or all of the three itemsof that list are comprehensive of any category. An enumerated list ofitems (which may or may not be numbered) does not imply that any or allof the items are equivalent to each other or readily substituted foreach other.

It will be readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that thevarious processes described herein may be implemented by, e.g.,appropriately programmed general purpose computers, special purposecomputers and computing devices. Typically a processor (e.g., one ormore microprocessors, one or more microcontrollers, one or more digitalsignal processors) will receive instructions (e.g., from a memory orlike device), and execute those instructions, thereby performing one ormore processes defined by those instructions. Instructions may beembodied in, e.g., one or more computer programs, one or more scripts.

A “processor” means one or more microprocessors, central processingunits (CPUs), computing devices, microcontrollers, digital signalprocessors, or like devices or any combination thereof, regardless ofthe architecture (e.g., chip-level multiprocessing/multi-core, RISC,CISC, Microprocessor without Interlocked Pipeline Stages, pipeliningconfiguration, simultaneous multithreading).

Thus a description of a process is likewise a description of anapparatus for performing the process. The apparatus that performs theprocess can include, e.g., a processor and those input devices andoutput devices that are appropriate to perform the process.

Further, programs that implement such methods (as well as other types ofdata) may be stored and transmitted using a variety of media (e.g.,computer readable media) in a number of manners. In some embodiments,hard-wired circuitry or custom hardware may be used in place of, or incombination with, some or all of the software instructions that canimplement the processes of various embodiments. Thus, variouscombinations of hardware and software may be used instead of softwareonly.

A description of a process is likewise a description of acomputer-readable medium storing a program for performing the process.The computer-readable medium can store (in any appropriate format) thoseprogram elements which are appropriate to perform the method.

Just as the description of various steps in a process does not indicatethat all the described steps are required, embodiments of an apparatusinclude a computer/computing device operable to perform some (but notnecessarily all) of the described process.

Likewise, just as the description of various steps in a process does notindicate that all the described steps are required, embodiments of acomputer-readable medium storing a program or data structure include acomputer-readable medium storing a program that, when executed, cancause a processor to perform some (but not necessarily all) of thedescribed process.

Where databases are described, it will be understood by one of ordinaryskill in the art that (i) alternative database structures to thosedescribed may be readily employed, and (ii) other memory structuresbesides databases may be readily employed. Any illustrations ordescriptions of any sample databases presented herein are illustrativearrangements for stored representations of information. Any number ofother arrangements may be employed besides those suggested by, e.g.,tables illustrated in drawings or elsewhere. Similarly, any illustratedentries of the databases represent exemplary information only; one ofordinary skill in the art will understand that the number and content ofthe entries can be different from those described herein. Further,despite any depiction of the databases as tables, other formats(including relational databases, object-based models and/or distributeddatabases) could be used to store and manipulate the data typesdescribed herein. Likewise, object methods or behaviors of a databasecan be used to implement various processes, such as the describedherein. In addition, the databases may, in a known manner, be storedlocally or remotely from a device which accesses data in such adatabase.

Various embodiments can be configured to work in a network environmentincluding a computer that is in communication (e.g., via acommunications network) with one or more devices. The computer maycommunicate with the devices directly or indirectly, via any wired orwireless medium (e.g. the Internet, LAN, WAN or Ethernet, Token Ring, atelephone line, a cable line, a radio channel, an optical communicationsline, commercial on-line service providers, bulletin board systems, asatellite communications link, a combination of any of the above). Eachof the devices may themselves comprise computers or other computingdevices, such as those based on the Intel® Pentium® or Centrino™processor, that are adapted to communicate with the computer. Any numberand type of devices may be in communication with the computer.

In an embodiment, a server computer or centralized authority may not benecessary or desirable. For example, the present invention may, in anembodiment, be practiced on one or more devices without a centralauthority. In such an embodiment, any functions described herein asperformed by the server computer or data described as stored on theserver computer may instead be performed by or stored on one or moresuch devices.

Where a process is described, in an embodiment the process may operatewithout any user intervention. In another embodiment, the processincludes some human intervention (e.g., a step is performed by or withthe assistance of a human).

Video Wagering Games

Video wagering games are set up to mimic a table game using adaptationsof table games rules and cards.

In one version of video poker the player is allowed to inspect fivecards randomly chosen by the computer. These cards are displayed on thevideo screen and the player chooses which cards, if any, that he or shewishes to hold. If the player wishes to hold all of the cards, i.e.,stand, he or she presses a STAND button. If the player wishes to holdonly some of the cards, he or she chooses the cards to be held bypressing HOLD keys located directly under each card displayed on thevideo screen. Pushing a DEAL button after choosing the HOLD cardsautomatically and simultaneously replaces the unchosen cards withadditional cards which are randomly selected from the remainder of thedeck. After the STAND button is pushed, or the cards are replaced, thefinal holding is evaluated by the game machine's computer and the playeris awarded either play credits or a coin payout as determined from apayoff table. This payoff table is stored in the machine's computermemory and is also displayed on the machine's screen. Hands with higherpoker values are awarded more credits or coins. Very rare poker handsare awarded payoffs of 800-to-1 or higher.

Apparatus for Playing Over a Communications System

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of components for a hand-reading system ona table 4 of some embodiments, a smart card-reading delivery shoe 8 withoutput 14 and a smart card-reading discard rack 12 with output 18.Player positions 6 are shown, as is a dealer's hand position sensor 10without output port 16.

FIG. 2 shows apparatus for playing the game. There is a plurality ofplayer units 40-1 to 40-n which are coupled via a communication system41, such as the Internet, with a game playing system comprising anadministration unit 42, a player register 43, and a game unit 45. Eachunit 40 is typically a personal computer with a display unit and controlmeans (a keyboard and a mouse).

When a player logs on to the game playing system, their unit 40identifies itself to the administration unit. The system holds thedetails of the players in the register 43, which contains separateplayer register units 44-1 to 44-n for all the potential players, i.e.,for all the members of the system.

Once the player has been identified, the player is assigned to a gameunit 45. The game unit contains a set of player data units 46-1 to 46-6,a dealer unit 47, a control unit 48, and a random dealing unit 49.

Up to seven players can be assigned to the game unit 45. There can beseveral such units, as indicated, so that several games can be played atthe same time if there are more than seven members of the system loggedon at the same time. The assignment of a player unit 40 to a player dataunit 46 may be arbitrary or random, depending on which player data units46 and game units 45 are free. Each player data unit 46 is loaded fromthe corresponding player register unit 44 and also contains essentiallythe same details as the corresponding player unit 40, and is incommunication with the player unit 40 to keep the contents of the playerunit and player data unit updated with each other. In addition, theappropriate parts of the contents of the other player data units 46 andthe dealer unit 47 are passed to the player unit 40 for display.

The logic unit 48 of the game unit 45 steps the game unit through thevarious stages of the play, initiating the dealer actions and awaitingthe appropriate responses from the player units 40. The random dealingunit 49 deals cards essentially randomly to the dealer unit 47 and theplayer data units 46. At the end of the hand, the logic unit passes theresults of the hand, i.e., the wins and/or losses, to the player dataunits 46 to inform the players of their results. The administrative unit42 also takes those results and updates the player register units 44accordingly.

The player units 40 are arranged to show a display. To identify theplayer, the player's position is highlighted. As play proceeds, so theplayer selects the various boxes, enters bets in them, and so on, andthe results of those actions are displayed. As the cards are dealt, aseries of overlapping card symbols is shown in the Bonus box. At theoption of the player, the cards can be shown in a line below the box,and similarly for the card dealt to the dealer. At the end of the hand,a message is displayed informing the player of the results of theirbets, i.e., the amounts won or lost.

Alternative Technologies

It will be understood that the technologies described herein for making,using, or practicing various embodiments are but a subset of thepossible technologies that may be used for the same or similar purposes.The particular technologies described herein are not to be construed aslimiting. Rather, various embodiments contemplate alternate technologiesfor making, using, or practicing various embodiments.

What is claimed is:
 1. An apparatus comprising: at least one processorconfigured to: determine that at least one cellular telephone isaccessing a gaming service through a single access point; receive anindication that a current location of the single access point is withina first geofence, the first geofence being within an area that isapproved for access to the gaming service; detect a movement of thesingle access point from the first geofence to a second geofence that isalso within the approved area; determine a distance between the secondgeofence and the boundary of the approved area; identify a distancebetween the second geofence and a boundary of the approved area;determine a time when the current location of the single access point isto be reevaluated, the time being based on the distance between thesecond geofence and the boundary of the approved area; and allow the atleast one cellular telephone to access the gaming service through thesingle access point, in response to determining that the single accesspoint is within the first geofence or the second geofence.
 2. Theapparatus of claim 1, in which the at least one processor is configuredto: register an application on the at least one cellular telephone, andwherein the application is at least configured to determine that thesingle access point has changed location, and/or determine a distancethe single access point has moved; receive from the application a reportwherein the report includes at least one of an indication that thesingle access point has moved, and an indication of a distance thesingle access point has moved; and in response to the report identifywhether the single access point cellular telephone is within the firstgeofence.
 3. The apparatus of claim 1, in which the at least oneprocessor is configured to: register an application on the at least onecellular telephone, wherein the application is at least configured todetermine that the single access point has changed location and/ordetermine a distance the single access point has moved; receive from theapplication a report wherein the report includes at least one of anindication that the single access point has moved and an indication of adistance the single access point has moved; and in response to thereport, query a remote location determination service to determine alocation of the single access point.
 4. The apparatus of claim 1,wherein the at least one processor is further configured to reset thetime when the current location of the single access point is to bereevaluated, in response to detecting the movement of the single accesspoint from the second geofence to a third geofence, the reset of thetime being based on a distance between the third geofence and theboundary of the approved area.
 5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein thedistance between the first geofence and the boundary of the approvedarea is longer than that of the second geofence.
 6. The apparatus ofclaim 1, wherein the distance between the first geofence and theboundary of the approved area is shorter than that of the secondgeofence.
 7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the second geofence islocated within the first geofence.
 8. The apparatus of claim 1, whereinthe first geofence and the second geofence are concentric.
 9. Theapparatus of claim 1, wherein the first geofence is located within thesecond geofence.